Litigation Finance (Baker/Marra)
Faculty
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| Tom Baker William Maul Measey Professor of Law tombaker@law.upenn.edu |
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| Will Marramarkacg@yahoo.com |
Additional Information
Skills Training
Oral Presentations
Team Projects
Drafting Legal Documents
Other Professional Skills:
Grading
33% Participation,
34% Paper,
33% Other (Students will be placed in teams that will engage in group projects that will be graded on a group basis.
The "class participation" component of the grade will be based on a combination of class discussion and posts in the class discussion board. It is entirely acceptable for students to participate primarily through posts in the class discussion board, though of course attendance in the weekly seminar sessions is mandatory.)
With Permission of Instructor
Class meets in person.
Course Continuity
Students are encouraged to stay home if you are ill or experience flu-like symptoms. If you miss a class for any reason, it is still your responsibility to make up the work missed.
I offer the following to students who miss class due to illness:
- Class sessions are regularly recorded. If you are absent due to illness or some other unavoidable circumstance, email me and I can send you an email with instructions for accessing the recording for the class session(s) you missed.
Meeting Times/Location
T 4:30PM - 6:30PM
Tanenbaum Hall 320
Category
Seminar
Credits
3.0
This seminar will take a hands-on, topical approach to litigation finance that will explore the history, economics, business practice, law, and social implications of this burgeoning field. Insurance companies have financed the defense side of litigation for 150 years, and contingency fee law firms have financed litigation through partnerships, joint ventures, and bank loans for almost as long. So litigation finance, per se, is not new. What is new, however, is investor-backed litigation finance offered on a non-recourse basis, including to Fortune 500 corporations and the AmLaw 100 and boutique law firms at which so many Penn Law grads start their careers. This kind of litigation finance is both a new asset class and a potentially transformative form of law firm and client financing. The seminar will feature outside speakers, experiential learning (underwriting, drafting, and negotiating litigation finance deals), and student-directed research. Warning: If you are looking for a tightly crafted course and thoroughly field-tested course materials taught by a professor for the tenth time (or more), this course is not for you. There will be false turns and dead ends, but you will emerge from the experience knowing more about this exciting new area than most of the partners in most large law firms.
Business and Corporate Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of business and corporate law; Perform legal analysis in the context of business and corporate law; Communicate effectively on topics related to business and corporate law; Demonstrate an understanding of the interconnection between the world of business and finance and that of business and corporate law, and how they affect other areas of law and society.
Courts and the Judicial System Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of both substantive and procedural issues in the operation of our legal system; Perform legal analysis in the context of procedural issues and the judicial process; Communicate effectively on topics related to procedure and the judicial process; Demonstrate an understanding of how procedural issues and the judicial process affect all other area of our legal system.
Professional Responsibility and Ethics Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of how the law affects, and is affected by, the individual course topic; Perform legal analysis in the context of the individual course topic; Communicate effectively on the legal and other aspects of the individual course topic; Demonstrate the ability to use other disciplines to analyze legal issues relevant to the individual course topic, including economics, philosophy, and sociology, as appropriate.
Textbooks
"Third-Party Litigation Finance: Law, Policy, and Practice" by Anthony J. Sebok |