{"id":145160,"date":"2026-03-02T10:10:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T18:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/03\/02\/as-litigation-finance-grows-law-students-have-opportunity-to-get-in-on-it-early\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T10:10:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T18:10:51","slug":"as-litigation-finance-grows-law-students-have-opportunity-to-get-in-on-it-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/03\/02\/as-litigation-finance-grows-law-students-have-opportunity-to-get-in-on-it-early\/","title":{"rendered":"As Litigation Finance Grows, Law Students Have Opportunity To Get In On It Early"},"content":{"rendered":"

Law schools spend a lot of time teaching students how to argue cases. Or, maybe more accurately, how to read opinions about past litigations that offer dubious value to their eventual careers marking up term sheets. But in any event, what schools haven\u2019t spent much time on is teaching them how these cases get funded.<\/p>\n

Which isn\u2019t entirely the fault of the schools. Litigation finance is a relatively new industry and schools have only started to come to grips with that reality. Harvard Law School now offers a course on litigation funding and the future of the legal profession<\/a> and other schools are too \u2014 turns out that when an industry hits $16 billion and starts fundamentally reshaping how litigation gets financed, law schools eventually notice.<\/p>\n

But courses and symposia can only get students so far. At some point, the way to learn how the money side of litigation works is to actually be in the room when funding decisions get made.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s an opportunity for that now, with the Certum Group\u2019s Litigation Finance Fellowship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now in its third year, the fellowship gives law students and business students a four-week, hands-on immersion in what it actually looks like when capital meets complex litigation. Fellows work closely with Certum\u2019s legal, insurance, and finance professionals \u2014 analyzing case funding requests, modeling case resolution scenarios, participating in client development meetings, and preparing marketing collateral. It\u2019s not a coffee-fetching internship. Past fellows have come from Penn Carey Law and Columbia Business School, and the program is designed \u2014 much like the MoloLamken Advocacy Academy for the trial advocacy inclined<\/a> \u2014 to run after students have already completed a summer associateship or other internship, making it a second-summer add-on rather than a scheduling conflict.<\/p>\n

The fellowship is led by William Marra<\/a>, who heads Certum\u2019s litigation finance strategy and serves on the board of the International Legal Finance Association<\/a>. Marra is also a lecturer in law at Penn Carey Law, where he\u2019s in his fourth year teaching litigation finance. He\u2019s also co-hosting an academic symposium on litigation finance<\/a> with the NYU Law Review on April 17. In other words, the guy running this program is the same guy law schools call when they want someone to talk to students about litigation finance. The fellowship is just getting that education wholesale.<\/p>\n

Certum Group provides litigation finance, litigation insurance, and managed services organization capabilities under one roof<\/a>, meaning fellows aren\u2019t just learning one corner of the business, but gaining exposure to the full sausage-making process of how litigation risk gets assessed, priced, and transferred.<\/p>\n

\u201cLitigation finance and insurance are rapidly changing the legal landscape,\u201d Marra said. \u201cTo succeed, lawyers need to understand not only doctrine but also finance. Law schools are beginning to reflect that shift, and students want to understand it. Our Summer Fellowship is about opening that door for both law and business students, and giving them meaningful exposure to the capital side of litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nothing against legal academia, but there\u2019s just no substitute for the practical training that can only be gained directly from those working in the field. With litigation financing becoming a larger and larger industry every year, the Certum fellowship attacks the gap between doctrinal education and figuring out how to finance justice in a world where resources have traditionally been stacked against victims.<\/p>\n

The fellowship is based in New York City, though remote participation is available. Any law student or business student is eligible. Fellows receive a $3,000 cash award and Certum expects to employ one to three fellows depending on the applicant pool.<\/p>\n

Applications are due March 31, 2026<\/strong>, and should include a resume, law school transcript, and a brief 250-word statement of interest. Send applications to SummerFellowship@CertumGroup.com.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a law student who wants to get in on the still comparatively early days of the financing industry, this is worth a look.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post As Litigation Finance Grows, Law Students Have Opportunity To Get In On It Early<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Law schools spend a lot of time teaching students how to argue cases. Or, maybe more accurately, how to read opinions about past litigations that offer dubious value to their eventual careers marking up term sheets. But in any event, what schools haven\u2019t spent much time on is teaching them how these cases get funded.<\/p>\n

Which isn\u2019t entirely the fault of the schools. Litigation finance is a relatively new industry and schools have only started to come to grips with that reality. Harvard Law School now offers a course on litigation funding and the future of the legal profession<\/a> and other schools are too \u2014 turns out that when an industry hits $16 billion and starts fundamentally reshaping how litigation gets financed, law schools eventually notice.<\/p>\n

But courses and symposia can only get students so far. At some point, the way to learn how the money side of litigation works is to actually be in the room when funding decisions get made.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s an opportunity for that now, with the Certum Group\u2019s Litigation Finance Fellowship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now in its third year, the fellowship gives law students and business students a four-week, hands-on immersion in what it actually looks like when capital meets complex litigation. Fellows work closely with Certum\u2019s legal, insurance, and finance professionals \u2014 analyzing case funding requests, modeling case resolution scenarios, participating in client development meetings, and preparing marketing collateral. It\u2019s not a coffee-fetching internship. Past fellows have come from Penn Carey Law and Columbia Business School, and the program is designed \u2014 much like the MoloLamken Advocacy Academy for the trial advocacy inclined<\/a> \u2014 to run after students have already completed a summer associateship or other internship, making it a second-summer add-on rather than a scheduling conflict.<\/p>\n

The fellowship is led by William Marra<\/a>, who heads Certum\u2019s litigation finance strategy and serves on the board of the International Legal Finance Association<\/a>. Marra is also a lecturer in law at Penn Carey Law, where he\u2019s in his fourth year teaching litigation finance. He\u2019s also co-hosting an academic symposium on litigation finance<\/a> with the NYU Law Review on April 17. In other words, the guy running this program is the same guy law schools call when they want someone to talk to students about litigation finance. The fellowship is just getting that education wholesale.<\/p>\n

Certum Group provides litigation finance, litigation insurance, and managed services organization capabilities under one roof<\/a>, meaning fellows aren\u2019t just learning one corner of the business, but gaining exposure to the full sausage-making process of how litigation risk gets assessed, priced, and transferred.<\/p>\n

\u201cLitigation finance and insurance are rapidly changing the legal landscape,\u201d Marra said. \u201cTo succeed, lawyers need to understand not only doctrine but also finance. Law schools are beginning to reflect that shift, and students want to understand it. Our Summer Fellowship is about opening that door for both law and business students, and giving them meaningful exposure to the capital side of litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nothing against legal academia, but there\u2019s just no substitute for the practical training that can only be gained directly from those working in the field. With litigation financing becoming a larger and larger industry every year, the Certum fellowship attacks the gap between doctrinal education and figuring out how to finance justice in a world where resources have traditionally been stacked against victims.<\/p>\n

The fellowship is based in New York City, though remote participation is available. Any law student or business student is eligible. Fellows receive a $3,000 cash award and Certum expects to employ one to three fellows depending on the applicant pool.<\/p>\n

Applications are due March 31, 2026<\/strong>, and should include a resume, law school transcript, and a brief 250-word statement of interest. Send applications to [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a law student who wants to get in on the still comparatively early days of the financing industry, this is worth a look.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Law schools spend a lot of time teaching students how to argue cases. Or, maybe more accurately, how to read opinions about past litigations that offer dubious value to their eventual careers marking up term sheets. But in any event, what schools haven\u2019t spent much time on is teaching them how these cases get funded. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}