In the current economic circumstances of an increase in cases (and risks) of breaches of contract and violation of rights, and in the resulting litigation, companies have to be increasingly creative in allocating resources. To assist them, PLMJ has set up a team specialising in the area of Legal Finance.

Legal Finance is highly developed at the international level, through financing or monetisation of pre-litigious rights or already pending legal/arbitral actions. It is an investment alternative (for financiers) and financing alternative (for companies). Through financing, a lender typically assumes (without recourse) the costs associated with a particular dispute. In return, it receives part of the economic benefits that may result from the favourable outcome of the dispute. Through monetisation, a third party acquires the economic rights at issue in a given dispute on an non-recourse basis.

In view of the increase in legal finance operations and to be ready for this need in the Portuguese market, PLMJ has set up a multidisciplinary team to support its clients (lenders or finance companies) in legal finance operations. The team’s work includes structuring contractual instruments to regulate the relations to be established between lenders and finance companies, and dealing with the litigation through to its conclusion.

The team is led by Joaquim Shearman de Macedo and Mariana França Gouveia (partners in the Dispute Resolution practice), Duarte Schmidt Lino (partner in the Corporate M&A practice) and André Figueiredo (partner in the Capital Markets practice).