Litigation Finance (Marra)
Faculty
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| Will Marrawill.marra@gmail.com |
Additional Information
Skills Training
Oral Presentations
Team Projects
Drafting Legal Documents
Other Professional Skills:
Grading
33% Participation,
34% Paper,
33% Other (Class participation will be graded based on both (a) both in-class discussion and (b) contributions to the online discussion board.
Students will complete an end-of-semester paper on a litigation finance-related topic of their choice.
Students will work in teams on group projects, which will be evaluated collectively.
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With Permission of Instructor
The end-of-semester paper requested from each student does not satisfy the length requirements of the senior writing requirement. However, students can elect to write a longer paper that qualifies for the writing requirement.
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
Silverman Hall M28
Category
Seminar
Credits
3.0
Litigation finance has been called “the most important development in civil justice of our time.” This seminar offers a hands-on, interdisciplinary exploration of litigation finance—a rapidly evolving field at the intersection of law, business, and finance. Students will examine its history, economics, and social implications, tracing the evolution from 19th-century insurance and contingency fee arrangements to today’s investor-backed, non-recourse funding models used by Fortune 500 companies and leading law firms.
Although litigation finance has deep historical roots, its modern form as a global asset class is reshaping how legal services are delivered and how risk is distributed among clients, firms, and investors. Through case studies, simulations, and conversations with guest speakers from industry and practice, students will gain practical insight into how litigation finance deals are structured, underwritten, and negotiated.
This is a working seminar, not a lecture course. Students will grapple with unsettled questions of law and policy, collaborate on team-based projects, and conduct original research. The path will not always be linear—there will be false starts and unexpected detours—but those are inherent to exploring an emerging and fast-changing field. By semester’s end, students will possess a deeper understanding of litigation finance than most practicing lawyers.
One component of the course is a simulation in which students assume the role of either a litigation funder or a litigator. Each team will evaluate a potential case for funding and negotiate the terms of an investment agreement.
The seminar is taught by William Marra, a practitioner in the field, now in his fourth year teaching the course.
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.