Vice President, U.S. Commercial Underwriting

Company Overview

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.

Burford Capital is the world’s largest and most experienced provider of commercial finance to the legal sector, 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 160 people today, including over 50 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 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.

www.burfordcapital.com

Burford is seeking to add a Vice President of Underwriting to our U.S. Commercial investment team. The position responsibilities primarily include identifying and analyzing litigation-related opportunities that Burford considers for financing. Underwriters will quickly evaluate the merits of legal claims, assess and price risks associated with the litigation, evaluate litigation budgets, negotiate financing deals from start to finish, and help develop new business for Burford. This position will involve communicating directly with law firms, in-house counsel and other corporate representatives, as well as Burford’s global investment team. 

The U.S. Commercial team is at the heart of Burford’s business model.  Underwriters stand on the front line, identifying, analyzing, pricing and negotiating Burford’s investments in legal assets.  They also frequently serve as the face of Burford to the market, both through their external relationships and through formal business development activities such as panels and publications.  This position provides a unique opportunity for litigators to apply their experience to investing, and in doing so, participate in the exciting, market-disruptive growth of legal finance.

The role will report to the Managing Director leading Burford’s U.S. Commercial business and be based in Burford’s New York offices.

The expected base compensation for this role is $250,000. Burford also pays an annual discretionary bonus as well as participation in our Restricted Stock Unit program.

Position Requirements

Underwriting Responsibilities

• Evaluate and price litigation merits risks, assess litigation budgets, and negotiate financing transactions from inception through closing.
• Work closely with Burford’s legal, finance and tax teams to structure, model, negotiate and close financing transactions, while minimizing legal and operational risks.
• Build strong client relationships and actively identify financing opportunities with law firms and corporations.
• Actively monitor ongoing investments, regularly interacting with clients and counsel as the litigation proceeds in order to facilitate successful resolution.

Skills Desired

Preferred Qualifications & Experience

We’re ideally looking for candidates with some or all of the following. While not every qualification is required, each adds valuable perspective for the role:

• 4+ years of broad commercial litigation experience from a top-tier U.S. law firm
• Federal clerkship experience;
• Pre-law school professional experience, preferably in financial services (or relevant academic background);
• Substantive experience with expert data analyses, valuation, or damages reports; and
• Licensed to practice law in the U.S.

Core Competencies & Skills / Personal Attributes & Fit

• A thoughtful litigator with an intuitive sense of the merits, value and risks of litigation;
• Commercial mindset, numerate and transaction-oriented, with the ability to price risk and explain (both internally and externally) the value of a deal;
• Team player and motivated learner who can work collegially with all members of the underwriting teams across Burford’s global offices;
• Entrepreneurial and self-directed;
• Strong communicator and outgoing, capable of participating in panels, conferences, and other client-facing business development opportunities on behalf of Burford;
• Excited to work in a fast-paced environment where both your legal skills and financial acumen will be fully utilized; and
• Openness to some travel.

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.

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