Judge Eileen Bransten issued a recent decision in New York County Supreme court, weighing in on the long-standing and, as yet, unsettled question of how alternative litigation financing (ALF) should be treated in NY state. In Litigation Funding LLC v. Jeffrey Lessoff, No. 650757/2012.  The defendants in the case argued that a cash advance secured by interests in contingent fees in specific cases would be an ethical violation of 5.4(a). In her decision, Judge Bransten speaks favorably of the ALF industry, stating that, “There is a proliferation of alternative litigation financing in the United States, partly due to the recognition that litigation funding allows lawsuits to be decided on their merits, and not based on which party has deeper pockets or stronger appetite for protracted litigation.”

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