The Coupon That Couldn’t Wait: Woodville and the Fixed-Date Trap A UK litigation funder just collapsed with a £249M loan book, 300,000 claims, and about ten employees. It didn’t lose the cases — the cases haven’t finished. It promised investors fixed quarterly interest and fixed repayment dates on an asset that pays whenever a court […]
The Template Behind the Ban: Tracing HB 105 to Its Source A model act adopted by state insurance-committee legislators in November 2024 already named commercial litigation financiers as a target — before Ohio, Georgia, or Arizona wrote a single section. The litigation-funding industry’s own trade group has a different account of what these bills are […]
The Ban That Wasn’t: Ohio’s New Litigation-Funding Law Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed HB 105 in early July, and the coverage called it a foreign-funder ban, the second state to restrict litigation finance this summer after North Carolina’s outright prohibition. The bill text tells a stranger, more useful story: a real but narrow capital restriction […]
The Verdict That Vanished: Inside the “Take Care of Maya” Funding Fight A $213M verdict became a $42M loan and a $60M insurance policy. Then an appeals court sent the case back for a retrial — the one outcome that breaks the economics while triggering none of the protection. I write about litigation finance as […]
The Prohibition Model: North Carolina Bans Litigation Funding On June 22, 2026, North Carolina became the first US state to ban third-party litigation funding outright — not disclosure, not a cap, a flat prohibition. Here’s what the statute actually does, and what it means for the asset class. My angle here isn’t a lawyer’s — […]
The VC Myth, Debunked: Why Patent Funders Aren’t VCs Two interested parties are fighting over whether patent funders run a lottery. I rechecked the arithmetic myself — it holds. Then it raised a harder question neither side wants to answer. The Setup In 2025, four WilmerHale attorneys published The Venture Capital Model Applied to Litigation […]
LexShares Case #254: The Sovereign Mirage A Turkish contractor built $1.5 billion in infrastructure for a Central Asian state. Then the government stopped paying. Two international arbitrations and nine years later — nothing. The Numbers Invested $50,000 Returned $0 Net Loss ($50,000) MOIC 0.00x IRR -100% Holding Period 3,270 days The Case A Turkish construction […]
The Patent Platform Turn: How Families Beat Single Cases Funders moved from single patents to patent families and licensing campaigns, and the strategy is genuinely better than what I bought. But when I looked for the returns, I found thin numbers — and discovered the biggest change in patent economics wasn’t strategy at all. My […]
The Litigation Grind: 42 Cases, 7 Years, 1.25% IRR How an eight-member investor group barely broke even on a litigation finance crowdfunding platform — and why the underwriter, not the lawsuits, was the problem The Bottom Line Between 2017 and 2020, my investor group put $2.3 million into 42 commercial litigation cases on LexShares. We […]
LexShares Case #644: The Passport Patent Payday An inventor’s RFID technology ended up in every US electronic passport. After 9 years of litigation, the government finally paid. The Numbers Invested $25,000 Returned $45,897 Net Profit $20,897 MOIC 1.84x IRR 9.43% Holding Period 2,458 days The Case In the mid-2000s, an inventor developed technology for securely […]
How “Senior Secured” Became Subordinated Scraps A $15M “senior secured” loan to a class action law firm — how I lost $87,723, and what the offering documents said before I lost it This is the most expensive lesson in my portfolio and the one I link back to most often, so I’ll put the takeaway […]
LexShares Case #1101: The Copycat Fuel Injection System A small engineering firm proved a €14 billion auto giant stole their technology — but $50M+ in claimed damages became a 1.12x return The Numbers Invested $30,000 Returned $33,710 Net Profit $3,710 MOIC 1.12x IRR 4% Holding Period 1,699 days The Case A Michigan engineering firm developed […]
LexShares Case #617: The $5 Million They Should Have Taken A retail developer rejected a $5M settlement offer, went to trial, lost, appealed, lost again. Total loss. The Numbers Invested $82,500 Returned $0 Net Loss ($82,500) MOIC 0.00x IRR -100% Holding Period 1,351 days The Case In 2009, a major metropolitan transit authority — one […]
LexShares Case #321: The Counterfeit Equipment Nightmare A small reseller bought “genuine” equipment from a Fortune 50 company. It was counterfeit. Their employees went to Chinese prison. The lawsuit went nowhere. The Numbers Invested $47,500 Returned $0 Net Profit ($47,500) MOIC 0.00x IRR -100% Holding Period 1,648 days The Case In 2011, a small East […]
The Trademark Enforcement Campaign 15 lawsuits, 4+ years, and a 1.10x return — the economics of volume trademark litigation The Numbers Invested $50,000 Returned $54,970 Net Profit $4,970 MOIC 1.10x IRR 2.1% Holding Period 1,673 days Distributions 5 payments The Case A financial advisor built a nationally-recognized brand around his radio program. His company owned […]
LexShares Case #656: The Groundskeeper Who Made History Johnson v. Monsanto — the first Roundup cancer verdict, a $289M jury award, and my small piece of legal history The Numbers Invested $25,000 Returned $42,399 Net Profit $17,399 MOIC 1.70x IRR 29% Holding Period 770 days The Case You probably heard about this one. Dewayne Johnson […]
LexShares Case #1098: The 31-Payment Settlement A medical finance fraud case settled quickly — then took 2.5 years to pay out in installments The Numbers Invested $30,000 Returned $50,703 Net Profit $20,703 MOIC 1.69x IRR 65% Holding Period 1,061 days Payments Received 31 The Case A Florida investor spent seven years building a relationship with […]
LexShares Case #310: When Winning Still Loses Money UKnight v. Knights of Columbus — a $100 million lawsuit wins at trial, but the $500,000 verdict doesn’t cover the litigation funding The Numbers Invested $170,000 Returned $149,937 Net Profit ($20,063) MOIC 0.88x IRR -4.41% Holding Period 1,018 days The Case List Interactive v. Knights of Columbus […]
LexShares Case #249: A Total Loss What happens when the plaintiff loses at trial, then loses their lawyer The Numbers Invested $50,000 Returned $0 Net Profit ($50,000) MOIC 0.00x IRR -100% Holding Period 1,079 days The Case A landlord leased 18,000 square feet of office space to a county child services agency in Pennsylvania. The […]
LexShares Case #678: When a Giant Copied the Startup A trade secrets case generated 1.76x in 15 months — via a plaintiff buyout The Numbers Invested $150,000 Returned $263,269 Net Profit $113,269 MOIC 1.76x IRR 58% Holding Period 456 days The Case Cosmetic injections are a $4+ billion global market. The problem: poorly trained providers […]
The Acquisition Exit: A 48-Month Deal Paid Off in 21 My best YieldStreet investment returned 13.14% in 21 months — and the reasons it worked are nowhere on the tear sheet that sold it This is the good one. My first YieldStreet investment — $250,000 into a diversified pool of pre-settlement advances — returned $289,248 […]
LexShares Case #285: Riding the Rubber Band Craze How a toy licensing dispute turned $25,000 into $64,135 in under 2 years The Numbers Invested $25,000 Returned $64,135 Net Profit $39,135 MOIC 2.57x IRR 66% Holding Period 682 days The Case Remember when rubber band bracelets were everywhere? In 2013-2014, loom kits were the hottest toy […]
LexShares Case #217: My First Litigation Investment 640 days to break even — and why I consider that a win The Numbers Invested $10,000 Returned $10,000 Net Profit $0 MOIC 1.00x IRR 0% Holding Period 640 days The Case A software company developed a web-based payment platform for transportation companies. A Fortune 500 trucking conglomerate […]
LexShares Case #281: A 73-Day Win How a wealth management fraud case turned $75,000 into $134,295 in under 3 months The Numbers Invested $75,000 Returned $134,295 Net Profit $59,295 MOIC 1.79x IRR 1,741% Holding Period 73 days The Case A professional athlete trusted a major bank’s wealth management team with his career earnings. What followed […]
