Now, I'm willing to bet that you didn't realize that a lawsuit is an asset for the plaintiff. If the case is very strong, it's a very valuable asset.
Since the 1980s, people have been investing in litigation funding by advancing the cost to the plaintiff in return for an agreed portion of the award or settlement.
Today's guest is Jay Greenberg, co-founder and CEO of LexShares, an electronic marketplace which facilitates litigation funding. Essentially the platform helps investors who want to invest in commercial legal claims.
Until now, this kind of investment has been available only to the very wealthy, who invested primarily through hedge funds. LexShares has made it possible for people who are not ultra wealthy to invest in lawsuits through a model similar to real estate crowdfunding.
For people who don't know what litigation funding is, Greenber explains on this episode of the Capital Gains Podcast.
Litigation funding itself comes in a lot of different shapes and sizes.
Greenberg provides examples of the types of legal actions that LexShares would get involved with.
Before he co-founded LexShares, Greenberg worked in Deutsche Bank's tech investment banking group. There, Greenberg focused on merger and acquisition advisory, debt and equity financing (primarily for enterprise software), tech services, and fintech companies.
While at Deutsche Bank, Greenberg advised on more than $13 billion of M&A and helped raise over $5 billion of equity and debt financing.
Greenberg graduated Magna Cum Laude from Boston College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in finance and corporate reporting and analysis. He holds Series 79, 63, 82 and 65 licenses.
