Auf Wiedersehen Allianz: litigation funding in Germany

Christian Stuerwald, the former head of litigation funding at Allianz UK and now Partner with Calunius Capital, comments in Aleks Vickovich's article on litigation funding in Germany and Allianz’s withdrawal from the market. (Please note that only subscribers to CDR magazine will be able to view the article.)

DBAs under scrutiny

This article appeared in Litigation Funding magazine and reported on an event held at Herbert Smith’s offices in January. Leading experts, including Leslie Perrin, examined the impact of contingency fees which are due to be introduced in April 2013.

Calunius is pleased to be working with Oxus Gold plc.

The third way

Third party litigation funding was the topic discussed by The Lawyer’s panel this week and Calunius’ Christian Stuerwald was asked for his reaction.

Emerging Risks on Dual Frontiers: Perspectives on Potential Liabilities in the New Decade

Leslie Perrin, Chairman of Calunius Capital LLP, is a guest speaker at this forthcoming conference on the topic of Third Party Litigation Finance.

Litigation funders respond to US calls for increased regulation

All hell broke loose last week in the world of litigation funding. There was a debate in the House of Lords on the Legal Aid and Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill which included half an hour on litigation funding. This was instigated by an extraordinary lobbying effort by none other than the US Chamber of Commerce, the mouthpiece of Global Big Business and Enemy of Access to Justice, whose main purpose in life is to preserve the inbuilt advantage in litigation held by the biggest of businesses. The US Chamber rightly perceives litigation funding and the Access to Justice that it gives to SMEs as a serious challenge to the US Chamber’s members. The Chamber’s position has stimulated a series of replies from litigation funders. Here you will find a selection starting with articles in CDR (above) and Rachel Rothwell’s article in Law Society Gazette (below). A copy of the Parliamentary Briefing prepared by the Association of Litigation Funders of England & Wales can also be found below.

Storm raging over investing in litigation

Parliamentary Briefing - Litigation Funding and Access to Justice

Litigation: asset or liability? How contingency fees could change commercial litigation

Litigation powerhouse, Herbert Smith, recently held a seminar to discuss how anticipated changes to the costs and funding regime are likely to change the litigation landscape. Calunius chairman Leslie Perrin, was one of the speakers along with Lord Justice Jackson. Here is a copy of Herbert Smith’s bulletin following the seminar and a link to a fuller version of the report on Herbert Smith’s "litigation notes" blog.

Litigation Funding: Status and Issues

A report to be published later this month by researchers at the University of Oxford comes to the conclusion that litigation funding is useful in granting access to justice; the report further addresses the question whether effective regulation is needed within the sector to protect the integrity of all parties. Calunius participated in the market survey carried out by the researchers and we hope that with the help of the newly established Association of Litigation Funders, third party funders will agree to abide by the new Code of Conduct for Litigation Funding. For further information, please refer to the University’s website.

Taking on Tbilisi: litigation funding in action

If you are fortunate enough to subscribe to Global Arbitration Review you can read an article by Calunius’ Christian Stuerwald and Mick Smith deliberating the Fuchs and Kardassopoulos v Georgia ICSID case. It is unusual that details of an investment treaty claim supported by litigation funding are released into the public domain.

Christian's and Mick's original piece on the important role liigation funding played in the cases of Messrs’ Kardassopoulos and Fuchs against the Republic of Georgia can be found here.

An Analysis of Allianz’ decision to discontinue its litigation funding business

Christian Stuerwald analyses Allianz' decision to discontinue its Litigation Funding business in Europe and the UK.

Third-Party Litigation Funding: Movements in the German Marketplace

Lecture by Lord Justice Jackson on the ALF Code of Conduct

At a reception in the Painted Room of The Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday 23rd November, Lord Justice Jackson delivered a lecture on the Code of Conduct of the Association of Litigation Funders of England and Wales. Since the Code of Conduct itself emerged as a result of recommendations in Lord Jackson’s report (chapter 11), his views on the Code are seen as essential reading for anyone interested in litigation funding. The lecture is reproduced in full in the attachment.

Code of Conduct set up for litigation funders

A very interesting piece on the Code of Conduct appeared in the Financial Times on 24th November (for those of you behind the paywall you’ll find it dated 23rd November).

CJC and ALF press release - 23 November 2011

In the flurry of excitement around the launch of the Association of Litigation Funders of England and Wales and their Code of Conduct Leslie Perrin, now Chairman of both the new Association and of Calunius, thought you might like to see the press release issued on 23 November by the Civil Justice Council and the Association.

Voluntary code & membership body launched for third party litigation funders

Code for third-party ligitation funders gets green light

The Calunius Chairman, Leslie Perrin, has been a member of the Civil Justice Council Working Party which has now completed its task of devising a Code of Conduct for Litigation Funding in England and Wales. More to follow but here is a teaser from the Law Society Gazette.

The growing acceptance of litigation funding

The current issue of industry magazine ‘Litigation Funding’ features an article by Calunius chairman Leslie Perrin and Calunius head of underwriting Christian Stuerwald on the growing acceptance of litigation funding by corporate claimants. The article describes two cases supported by the Calunius Fund, and the way the corporate minds in each case came to the conclusion that litigation funding was the right thing to do both from a risk management perspective and to allow them to concentrate on core business activities.

Allianz to discontinue Litigation Funding business – other providers rate the business highly

The Allianz litigation funding subsidiary in Germany today announced that it will discontinue its business activity; the group wants to concentrate on its core activity. Existing litigation funding agreements will be complied with until the cases are concluded, but no new cases will be funded. Because the average lifetime of a funded case is between 2 and 3 years, this means that the company will still be active in the market for the coming years. Calunius‘ Christian Stuerwald, who worked for Allianz until 2009, comments on the development as follows: “The subsidiary has become the victim of its own success in my view; after the humble beginnings of 2002 the industry and the company with it grew steadily, which led to greater demand for the funding of large commercial claims directed against very large corporate entities. Due to the fact that Allianz is one of the largest insurers in the world, numerous conflicts of interests ensued where the group acted as insurer of defendant companies. This irresolvable systemic conflict is in my view the best reason why litigation funding for large commercial disputes should be done by solvent and independent entities like Calunius.”

Elvis v RCA Recordings

Litigation Funders to “The King”. It is with immense pride that Calunius is able to announce that the Calunius Fund is funding litigation by Elvis Presley Enterprises against the successors to RCA Records, now part of the Sony Group. The case alleges that the Buy Out Agreement of February 1973, whereby RCA acquired the world-wide rights to the entire Elvis Presley back-catalogue was a “Conspicuously Disproportionate” bargain and that the Court should step in and impose “Equitable Remuneration” on the deal, particularly in the light of recent changes in German law that have extended the period of copyright protection to 50 years. The case is proceeding in the Munich Regional Court under German copyright law. Most cases that are funded by the Calunius Fund are confidential. However, in these circumstances, Elvis Presley Enterprises have agreed that publication was in the best interests of the litigation and we are delighted to have the opportunity to shine some light on the progress of our business as it becomes one of the leading names in large scale international commercial litigation funding.

Elvis Presley Estate Sues to Recover Ringtone Revenue

It’s not often we turn up in Hollywood but we’re mentioned in a piece on Elvis Presley in yesterday’s The Hollywood Reporter.

All shook up

In the riot of press coverage over the Elvis case, this report in The Lawyer struck us as well-balanced and perceptive.

Litigation Funders poised to prove finances in place

As you can see Calunius helped The Lawyer to prepare this article, but that did not prevent The Lawyer from getting a few things “not quite right”. Lord Justice Jackson broadly approved Litigation Funding in his Review of Civil Litigation Costs, saying “[litigation] funding is beneficial and should be supported”. It is public knowledge that he set out three issues to be covered in a voluntary Code of Conduct; withdrawal by the funder, the funder’s role in settlement negotiations and capital adequacy requirements to be imposed on funders. All these issues are now the subject of discussions in a working party chaired by Michael Napier QC and working under the auspices of the Civil Justice Council. Leslie Perrin, the Chairman of Calunius, is a member of the working party. There is no reluctance whatsoever on the part of reputable funders to face these issues. In fact there is genuine enthusiasm on most funders’ part to set a high bar for the industry’s conduct, especially when it comes to financial soundness. In this respect, observers should bear in mind that Calunius Capital, which has been authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority as an Investment Adviser since June 2007, acts as the adviser to the Calunius Litigation Risk Fund LP (“The Calunius Fund”), a £40 million private fund based in Guernsey. The Calunius Fund is authorised and regulated by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.

Show Me The Money

All wrapped up in the development of a Code of Conduct for litigation funders and assurances to the market of their financial soundness is the question of whether all those who profess to be litigation funders are properly described as such or whether they are really intermediaries or brokers who control either no adequate funds or no funds whatsoever. Christian Stuerwald and Leslie Perrin have written a primer for solicitors and claimants in the UK market to assist them in understanding the true nature of the various players in the litigation funding market. It’s called “Show Me The Money”, which says it all really.

A European Perspective - Third Party Funding of International Arbitration Claims

Although we don’t agree with some of its findings, it is a useful look past the current MoJ consultation on Jackson and gives one man’s view of a brave new post-Jackson world.

Litigation fund raises £40m

Calunius Capital raises £40m fund

Specialist broker raises £40m to invest in litigation cases

An overview of dispute resolution - litigation lawyers report a definite uptick in disputes work.

Top 20 cases of 2011

The pioneers of third-party litigation look for a market

Third-party funders to form association to oversee code of conduct

Litigation Finance follows credit crunch

Litigation Costs under scrutiny in the UK

Addleshaws secures funding for £50m litigation

Leslie Perrin is a key-note speaker at: "So You Want to Be a Non-Executive Director?" - 14 April 2011

Leslie Perrin & Christian Stuerwald spoke at "Maximising Opportunities in Litigation Funding" - 25 May 2011

Round Table on Investment Law and Investment Arbitration

Calunius’ Christian Stuerwald spoke at the 7th Annual Meeting of the ‘Gespraechskreis Investitionsrecht und –schiedsgerichtsbarkeit’ (Round table on investment law and investment arbitration) about ‘Managing the costs of investment protection treaty claims by way of Litigation Funding agreements’ in Frankfurt on 16th November 2011.