Happy Friday! Burford Capital had a big win this week.
My colleague Roy Strom wrote about how Burford is entitled to one-fourth of the $5.7 billion jury verdict leveled against Apple for infringing patents that cover vibration-based technology. If you’re trying to do the math on that, that’s a potential $1.4 billion payday for the funder.
The money would be split roughly equally between its own balance sheet and investment funds and is “likely to be altered” in post-trial proceedings, Burford said in a statement.
Bloomberg Law subscribers can get this Litigation Finance newsletter in their inbox on Fridays. Sign up here.
YPF Update
In more Burford news, YPF investors have asked the US Supreme Court to review an “egregiously wrong” lower-court ruling that overturned a $16 billion judgment in their favor, Bob Van Voris reported.
In March, a federal appeals court said the judge who ordered the Argentine government to pay misinterpreted the South American country’s law in allowing the case to proceed. Argentine President Javier Milei hailed it as a major victory, and his government dismissed any threat from the appeal.
“Burford Capital spent a fruitless decade dragging the Argentine Republic through the US courts only to lose in the Second Circuit, whose ruling rests on a thorough and accurate analysis of governing Argentine law,” Argentina said in a statement. “The Republic will continue to defend its interests resolutely and has every confidence in the strength of its position.”
What I’m Reading
- Some Massumi + Consoli partners agreed to take pay cuts as a part of a deal to get private equity investment in the law firm’s tech operations, my colleague Justin Henry reported this week. The partners are betting that selling a stake in its back office will pay off in the long run.
- Litigation funder Woodville Consultants, which collapsed in July, was promoted by several people with links to Russia, The Times reported this week. The administrators of Woodville told investors last week that their initial analysis suggested that the total commission payments to promoters amounts to roughly double the total funds lent to law firms.
- A director and member of Burford’s London underwriting team, Charlie Rooke, spoke with Non-Billable about the litigation funding market. He said he thinks AI is going to “turbocharge” investment in the law firms since the firms won’t necessarily have access to the investment needed for the technology.
Business & Practice
An en banc Ninth Circuit panel appeared willing to scrap a long-criticized copyright infringement test used to determine whether works are substantially similar Tuesday, spending considerable time asking what should replace it.
US Patent and Trademark Office Director John A. Squires testified before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on intellectual property Tuesday, expressing his hopes for an extension of the agency’s fee-setting authority without providing many details on purported increased patent quality and application efficiency.
California has enacted first-in-the-nation legislation to regulate attorneys’ use of generative artificial intelligence tools in their work, banning them from delegating the practice of law to AI and restricting their entry of confidential or personal information into AI tools.
Kirkland & Ellis regained the top spot among Big Law dealmakers as a slow third quarter and sluggish private equity market raised fresh concerns for transactions-focused firms.
Commentary & Opinion
Marshall Gerstein Partner Tiffany Gehrke and former summer associate Kevin Zhu examine the implications of RiseandShine Corp. vs. PepsiCo, Inc. and how the US Supreme Court’s decision could affect trademark owners.
For the last quarter of the year, managing partners and practice leaders should assess where their personal attention can favorably change outcomes rather than focus on how many year-end tasks they can monitor, former Big Law COO James Dixon writes.
As AI tools improve and spread, deepfake fraud becomes more foreseeable, and liability will depend on whether any party had both a duty and an opportunity to detect the deception, Segal McCambridge attorneys write.
Big Law’s Future Isn’t the Billable Hour
The billable hour “can be eliminated entirely,” former McDermott chair and current Broadfield Holdings chair Peter Sacripanti writes in a Bloomberg Law Insight.
Technology is undermining the profit engine for Big Law firms, and clients are tired of rising attorney rates. Sacripanti suggests moving to collaborative fixed pricing: agreeing with each client in advance on the scope of work and the cost.
That approach would require significant investment in law firm infrastructure and AI tools. But Sacripanti says it would return the profession to the simple, fiduciary principle he’s always believed in: “I win if they win.”
Source: news.bloomberglaw.com
