Vice President, Patent Case Management

Burford Capital is the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law. Its businesses include litigation finance and risk management, asset recovery and a wide range of legal finance and advisory activities. Burford is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUR) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: BUR), and it works with companies and law firms around the world from its principal offices in New York, London, Chicago, Washington, Singapore, and Dubai.

The Firm has created a Vice President (or above, commensurate with experience) position on the Patent team, which is responsible for monitoring and maximizing the value of our multi-billion dollar portfolio of existing litigation investments. The patent case manager will manage the substantial portfolio of patent cases in which Burford has invested, including staying informed of and reporting on material developments in our investments; monitoring spend vs. commitment and the life cycle of the case; advising senior management on developments and strategic issues; and working with our counterparties to enhance our chances of a successful investment and case resolution. The case manager will work side-by-side with the underwriters who originally underwrote the patent investments in the portfolio, and with case managers for patent, commercial litigation and arbitration investments. This case manager also will work closely with law firms, in-house counsel, and corporate representatives, as well as Burford’s global underwriting team.

The patent case manager will report to a Managing Director of Burford responsible for managing Burford’s global patent business and preferably would be based in either Burford’s Chicago or New York offices.

www.burfordcapital.com

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Burford Capital is the largest and most experienced provider of commercial finance to the legal sector in the world, with a core expertise in identifying and optimizing the value of legal assets for companies and law firms.  Since its founding in 2009, Burford has worked with hundreds of law firms and corporations, including 94 of the AmLaw 100 and 92 of the Global 100 largest law firms. Our team has grown from five people at the end of 2009 to over 150 people today, including over 45 lawyers.

Burford possesses the resources and expertise of a large company while retaining the flexibility and creativity of a startup.  Team members are smart, creative, collaborative, curious, and confident.  Everyone rolls up their sleeves to perform and engage collectively for the overall success of the business.  Burford values rigorous thinking, clear communication, and efficient execution. Burford is an “always on” environment in which everyone needs to be accessible by email when outside the office, including during evenings and weekends

Burford pays base salaries consistent with the financial services industry and favors incentive compensation to reward performance. Burford provides competitive health care benefits and a 401k matching program. Burford Capital is committed to increasing diversity and maintaining an inclusive workplace culture.  We welcome applications from all qualified candidates regardless of their ethnicity, race, gender, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, age, marital status, whether or not they have a disability.

Position Requirements

Role & Responsibilities

• Monitor and manage active patent investments during the legal lifecycle, including working with the counterparty, litigation counsel, and internal Burford teams to optimize the outcome

• Analyze the merits of litigation claims, legal risks, financial implications, and strategy
• Evaluate and price legal risk of evolving legal claims, addressing the impact of budget issues and litigation developments
• Collaborate with the entire Patent team, as well as Burford’s business development and marketing teams, to assist in identifying new investment opportunities
• Represent Burford externally in client and law firm meetings, at industry conferences, and through thought-leadership initiatives

SKILLS DESIRED

Qualifications & Experience

• A minimum of 4 years of high-value patent litigation experience from a first-rate US law firm, and at least 3 yers of in-house experience at a top company

• An undergraduate or graduate degree in engineering or science are preferred but not required.
• Law firm experience should include substantial briefing, deposition and expert discovery, and oral argument/trial work.
• Relevant in-house experience would include managing a significant docket of matters, preparing case strategy and budgets, overseeing outside counsel’s execution of strategy and adherence to budgets, and reporting to internal business and legal team on strategy and developments.
• Licensed to practice law in any U.S. jurisdiction

Core Competencies & Skills / Personal Attributes & Fit

• A thoughtful litigator with an intuitive sense of the merit, value and risks of litigation;
• Numerate and deal-savvy, with the ability to assess risk and explain (both internally and externally) the value of a deal;
• Ability to assess complicated legal and/or financial issues, describe them simply, and propose commercially reasonable solutions to managers;
• A multi-tasker, capable of actively managing a large and complex portfolio of high-value litigation;
• A team player who can work collegially with team members at multiple levels and business functions to assist with legal and financial analysis;
• A good communicator and out-going, capable of participating in panels, conferences, and other client-facing business development opportunities on behalf of Burford; and
• Ambitious and ready to work in a fast-paced environment where both your legal skills and financial acumen will be fully utilized.
• Some amount of travel (<10%) may be required

Notice of Collection of Personal Information:
https://www.burfordcapital.com/media/vczjqcdn/notice-of-collection-of-personal-information.pdf