, Columnist
A Way for Lawyers to Get Really Rich
Litigation funds are lucrative but tricky for investors to value.
The Royal Courts of Justice in London.
Photographer: Chris RatcliffeThis article is for subscribers only.
Top corporate lawyers can take home millions of dollars a year, but until recently it was all but impossible for investors to share in the spoils — only a handful of U.K. and Australian law firms have gone public and U.S. practices are prohibited from doing so.
But finance didn't grow to become such a big slice of the economy by letting big pots of money escape its tentacles. The top 200 U.S. law firms generated about $110 billion in revenue last year, according to ALM Intelligence. Globally, a multiple of that figure is likely to have been paid out in damages. A tempting target.