5 minutes with... Vanessa Biondo
You spent 12 years as a law firm partner before joining Burford in late 2024. What was your first impression of legal finance, and how have your views changed since?
My first exposure to legal finance was in 2013, as a partner at Mayer Brown. We had a client who owned a small business and had a large claim; he wanted to use our firm but couldn’t afford the big-firm rates, so we helped him find financing. Throughout my career I also worked on cases that were funded—on both sides of it.
It’s been really interesting to see not only how the legal finance industry has expanded, but who is using funding. It’s not just entities that can’t afford to fund litigations that are using legal finance—it’s increasingly entities that could afford to bring litigation on their own, but are choosing not to, because they want to mitigate their risk and don’t want to carry the cost of litigation on their balance sheets. It’s also been interesting to see how law firms can grow through these funding arrangements, expanding their practices on either a single-case or portfolio basis.
What are some of the most frequently asked questions that law firm lawyers typically ask when they're first considering legal finance?
Lawyers want to know how funding can benefit their practice. And the answer is that funding allows lawyers to take on cases they wouldn’t otherwise be able to take on, thereby expanding their books of business. When we fund a case, we’re freeing the firm from having to take the case on full contingency. This means their realization rates can stay strong; they don’t have their partners complaining that firm time is being spent on matters without any money coming in the door.
How widely used is legal finance among top-tier law firms?
Based on my experience as a law firm partner, it hasn’t been a surprise to me that a lot of big and very successful firms are using legal finance. What has been a bit surprising to me is the number of those firms that use it. Before I came to Burford, as someone pretty familiar with legal finance, I knew funding was widely used in the industry—but I didn’t appreciate just how widely.
Our funding arrangements with firms are confidential so we can’t name names, but Burford has discussed potential arrangements with 94 of the AmLaw 100. It sounds silly to say, “Everybody’s doing it,” but everybody kind of is. And I think we’re going to see an increase in that number over the next five years.
Why should law firm lawyers learn how to talk to their clients about legal finance, and what should they emphasize?
First and foremost, it’s important for lawyers to know what legal finance is. I think most lawyers will say they have some familiarity with it, but not all of them truly understand how it works. So as a starting point, we’re always happy to educate attorneys on what we do, both for their own benefit and the benefit of their client. It’s a missed opportunity not to keep legal finance in mind as an option—it allows clients who wouldn’t otherwise bring cases to bring them and allows clients who would bring them regardless to offload risk and to use their capital for other purposes.
Additionally, I think it’s important for attorneys to know that we can also monetize their clients' claims. This means if a lawyer has a client who is anticipating a sizable recovery at the conclusion of a litigation, Burford can provide a portion of that expected recovery today—on a non-recourse basis—so the client doesn’t have to wait the years it’s going to take for the litigation to resolve to receive the value of the claim. The client wins because they can put that capital to work for their business today. That's a welcomed opportunity across the board, but even more so for clients who could use an infusion of cash. And the lawyer benefits by getting to litigate claims that may otherwise not have been financially feasible to litigate.
5... skills or hobbies you'd like to learn?
- Guitar: I took lessons my third year of law school, but it never went anywhere. My ultimate dream is to get a coffee shop gig.
- Languages: I love languages. I was a Romance Language and Literatures major in college. I can speak Italian. I've studied Spanish, Portuguese, French and even a little German, but can't speak them. I would love to spend more time studying and practicing (and traveling!).
- Tennis: I took up tennis a couple of years ago and am trying to get good enough to beat my husband.
- Ice skating: My four-year-old daughter has taken a liking to ice skating. I can get around the rink, but I'd like to get a little better (even though she maintains I'm the best ice skater in the family).
- Meditation: When I was pregnant, I did short daily meditations, for around 10 minutes. I've fallen out of that habit as it's hard to find even that amount of time in the day, but it was a great way to clear my head. I desperately need to get back to it!
