WTW’s Litigation and Contingent Risk practice structures and places insurance policies for litigation risks and integrates that coverage into insurance-backed financing transactions. We work with patent owners, litigation funders, lenders, and law firms across Asia, the United States, and Europe to transfer legal risk to highly-rated insurers, reducing the risk borne by capital providers and making the capital behind patent enforcement campaigns less expensive and easier to raise.

For patent owners and licensors. Litigation financing for enforcement in U.S. district courts, the ITC, the UPC, Germany, and other jurisdictions can be expensive and difficult to obtain. In an insurance-backed financing, a loan or investment secured by IP assets is paired with an insurance policy designed to respond if litigation and licensing proceeds are insufficient to repay the insured portion of the financing. Lenders that otherwise would not lend against litigation collateral alone may lend on a non-recourse basis against an insured position, funders may accept a lower return, and patent owners may raise more capital at a lower cost while retaining more upside.

For funders and investors. Collateral protection insurance can convert a litigation exposure into a more financeable insured credit risk, allowing funders to deploy more capital per transaction, lend rather than invest, and attract bank or institutional co-lenders.

For law firms. Work-in-progress or “WIP” insurance can protect a defined portion of a firm’s investment in contingency or hybrid-fee patent matters that conclude without sufficient recoveries, providing more stable collateral for financing and supporting more, and larger, alternative-fee engagements.