Senior in-house legal and finance department
leaders across industries reveal differing plans for future legal
and legal AI spend, but share commitment to seeking innovation and
new ways to add value
NEW YORK,
May 15,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Burford Capital, the leading
global finance and asset management firm focused on law, today
releases a new study that examines how senior legal and finance
department leaders across industries approach litigation spend,
legal cost and risk management and optimizing legal department
value.
Much has changed in the 15 years since
Burford's inception in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Economic, political and societal changes have impacted different
industries and their legal functions in different ways. This study
reveals how leaders from both legal and finance functions in
various industries are responding to both external and internal
factors—adapting their legal strategies to navigate the evolving
landscape effectively—and where they plan to allocate resources
moving forward.
The research is gathered from online interviews
with 400 senior lawyers and finance professionals across ten
industry sectors, shedding light on their decision-making processes
regarding commercial disputes as well as cost and risk management
within their legal departments. Industry sectors addressed are
construction and real estate; consumer goods and
services; energy; food; healthcare;
manufacturing; mining; pharma and life
sciences; retail; and transportation and supply
chain.
Key findings from the study include:
- Senior legal and finance leaders in construction
and mining expect the biggest increases in litigation spend
in the next five years, with pharma and food close
behind.
- 3 of 4 GCs and CFOs in construction and real estate
say a top priority is to increase certainty and predictability of
legal costs—25% higher than the average across all industries.
- Pharma and life sciences GCs and CFOs are four
times more likely than the average across all industries to say
they could reallocate $50 million or
more elsewhere in the business by financing litigation and
arbitration.
- Almost two thirds (65%) of senior finance and legal leaders
at mining companies say that in the next 15 years they
are likely to use monetization, a legal finance solution that
provides businesses immediate capital by advancing some of the
expected entitlement of a pending claim, judgment or award.
- Half of GCs and CFOs at food companies expect their
organization's litigation and arbitration spend to increase by more
than 25% over the next five years; they are also 54% more likely to
have used legal finance than the average across all industries.
- A third of senior finance and legal leaders
at energy companies say they already have a robust
affirmative recovery program in place, nearly twice as many as
the average across all industries.
- Healthcare, retail and consumer GCs and
CFOs are more likely to say legal finance can play a significant
role in reducing overall litigation and legal costs, perhaps
reflecting these sectors' typically thin margins and their desire
for innovative cost-saving measures.
- Finance and legal leaders at retail companies are
the most likely to say they intend to invest heavily in legal
technology and AI over the next year.
- Industries in which leaders anticipate the largest increases in
future litigation spend do not currently have the largest budgets,
suggesting a significant shift in litigation priorities among some
industries.
Christopher
Bogart, CEO of Burford Capital, said: "Burford's latest
research affirms that GCs and CFOs across industries are thinking
about new ways to create value for the business, which is at the
heart of our work to help clients reframe the legal department from
cost center to capital source.
"Burford was founded in the wake of the 2009
global financial crisis, and we recognize that our capital and
expertise are especially valuable in challenging times. A major
shift since our founding is the continued expansion of our client
base from law firms to companies, including very large ones, and
financing arrangements with companies now account for the majority
of our business. We help all our clients navigate risk and
exploring innovative capital solutions, but the growth of our
business with corporate clients—including a recent $325 million deal with a single Fortune 500—is
exemplary of how much our capital and expertise can help businesses
both survive and thrive in today's uncertain landscape."
The latest research is based on an online survey
of senior financial officers and in-house lawyers of companies
across ten different industries and with annual revenues of
$50 million or more in the US, UK,
Australia, Singapore, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, The
Netherlands and the UAE. All respondents are in roles that
include knowledge of their companies' litigation expenditures and
decision-making.
The Industry perspectives on litigation and
arbitration survey can be downloaded on Burford's website. The
research was conducted by GLG from December 2023–January 2024.
About Burford Capital
Burford Capital is the leading global finance and
asset management firm focused on law. Its businesses include
litigation finance and risk management, asset recovery and a wide
range of legal finance and advisory activities. Burford is publicly
traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUR) and the London
Stock Exchange (LSE: BUR), and it works with companies and law
firms around the world from its offices in New York, London, Chicago, Washington,
DC, Singapore, Dubai, Sydney
and Hong Kong.
For more information, please visit
www.burfordcapital.com.
This announcement does not constitute an
offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any ordinary
shares or other securities of Burford.
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SOURCE Burford Capital