New York City Bar Association Forms Litigation Funding Working Group

The New York City Bar Association has formed a working group to study the issues and practices surrounding litigation funding.

The Litigation Funding Working Group, co-chaired by Debra L. Raskin, of Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, P.C. and a former City Bar President, and Lynn K. Neuner, of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, is comprised of a range of interested professionals, including private practitioners, ethics professors and specialists, litigation funding executives, a former federal judge, in-house counsel, ADR specialists, and representatives from several of the City Bar’s standing committees.

“We’re pleased to have a group of such diverse and respected practitioners to examine all sides of what has become a very hot topic in our industry,” said Raskin.

The Working Group will address the following topics: (a) the ethics rules and framework relating to the City Bar’s Formal Ethics Opinion 2018-5, (b) current practices in litigation funding and best practices for the future, (c) issues of disclosure regarding litigation funding, (d) litigation funding in the consumer and civil rights arenas and (e) recent litigation funding developments in New York and in certain jurisdictions outside New York. 

The Working Group will not revisit Formal Opinion 2018-5: “Litigation Funders’ Contingent Interest in Legal Fees,” which has drawn significant attention. “The Working Group is open, however, to exploring and possibly recommending revisions to the ethics rules and/or legislation, which we will be reviewing this year,” said Neuner.

The Working Group expects to issue a report on its findings by the end of 2019.

The members of the Litigation Funding Working Group are:

Debra L. Raskin (Co-Chair)
Lynn K. Neuner (Co-Chair)
James J. Bilsborrow
William F. Dahill
Margaret A. Dale
Elliot Dolby-Shields
Dai Wai Chin Feman
Katherine B. Forrest
Stephen Gillers
Jonathan Goldin
Jordan Goldstein
Taa Grays
Bruce A. Green
Seymour James
Richard I. Janvey
Meredith Karp (Secretary)
David Keyko
Marc Madonia
John G. McCarthy
Mark Morril
David Perla
Philip Schaeffer
Barbara Seniawski
Kaylin Whittingham
Sean M. Zaroogian

About the Association
The mission of the New York City Bar Association, which was founded in 1870 and has 24,000 members, is to equip and mobilize the legal profession to practice with excellence, promote reform of the law, and uphold the rule of law and access to justice in support of a fair society and the public interest in our community, our nation, and throughout the world. www.nycbar.org