Selvyn Seidel
Selvyn Seidel founded and is the CEO of Fulbrook Capital Management LLC. Fulbrook is an independent financing advisor on complex national and international commercial claims.
Fulbrook has created and occupies a special space in this industry, basically acting as an investment advisory firm in the industry. It represents claimants and who need assistance in: evaluating their claims or portfolios of claims; preparing and/or improving the claims for investment, and prosecution; and/or sourcing capital –- where Fulbrook identifies and attracts potential investors for the claimant and its claim, from (a) the institutional dedicated financing providers, as well as (b) from individual investors interested in committing only a portion of their capital into Dispute Finance (e.g., a family office, pension fund, hedge fund, or a private equity entity).
It represents investors in similar activities, but also in attracting and vetting claims, and assisting to determine if the claims or portfolio of claims are fund worthy, and in overseeing prosecution.
If needed and acceptable within a jurisdiction’s rules, Fulbrook will assist in buying, selling, or otherwise trading the claim or the claimant itself.
Fulbrook emphasizes certain areas, particularly: patents and other IP; international litigation and arbitration; insolvency, and other serious financial distress situations; and mediation in general and high stake disputes. In exceptional circumstances, it will also work on other claims, such as those involving oil and gas, antitrust, securities fraud, insurance, and serious breach of contract claims.
In a Report by two think tanks that discussed Dispute Finance, Fulbrook was identified along with four other entities, as among the “prominent third-party funders” in the industry worldwide. Additionally, Fulbrook has been recognized for being the leader in the Dispute Finance industry, by over 40 polls and citations since its inception of operations in 2013
Before Fulbrook, in 2007, Mr. Seidel founded and chaired Burford Advisors, an expert advisor in Dispute Finance, and then, in October of 2009, co-founded and chaired Burford Group Ltd., the investment manager for Burford Capital, LLC, which was taken public on the UK Aim market of the London Exchange, and is now one of the largest and most respected institutional financing providers in Dispute Financing.
Mr. Seidel is recognized in the industry as a pioneering voice. He was described in the Report referred to above as “probably the frontrunner in the industry,” and is frequently described as a leader or pioneer in the industry.
Before Burford and Fulbrook, Mr. Seidel practiced as a litigation attorney for over 40 years in complex litigations and arbitrations, specializing in international. In 1985, he co-founded the New York office of Latham & Watkins, a premier international law firm. Until December 31, 2006 and for almost 25 years, he was a senior litigation partner at Latham and was, at different times, the Chairman of the firm’s International Practice, the founder and Chairman of Latham’s International Litigation and Arbitration practice, and the Chairman of its New York Litigation practice.
Mr. Seidel has been and is an active educator. He was for ten years an Adjunct Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law, teaching courses related to litigation and arbitration. He is an Alumnus Lecturer at Linacre College, Oxford University. He Chaired the Advisory Board of Oxford Law Alumni of America. He lectures on third party finance and participates in conferences and presentations at various law schools in the U.S. and UK (including Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Oxford Law, New York University School of Law, and the University of Iowa Law School), and at various Institutes (such as the RAND Institute of Civil Justice, and at LEXIS NEXIS programs on litigation costing and funding).
He is the past chairman of the Advisory Board of the Center for International Commercial and Investment Arbitration Law of Columbia University Law School. He has authored many articles and papers in the industry, including a Primer on Dispute Investing in Commercial Claims.
Fulbrook Capital Management LLC:
Fulbrook was created to deliver help. We are an independent expert on and in the industry. We are dedicated to representing claimants in learning about, understanding, and sourcing, the advantages available in the industry, and also representing investors in identifying, evaluating, and prosecuting good commercial claims. We are dedicated as well to education in the industry, through presentations, written materials, and teaching in various venues, as noted elsewhere. We also try to improve various aspects of the industry’s capacity to better serve the claimants. We are — we believe and hope — a unique and beneficial leader in the industry.
Fulbrook deploys a skilled team of internal and external specialists. Our specialists are assembled from various national and international disciplines. We receive requests to assist from claimants and investors worldwide. We offer diversified services, explaining the industry and its opportunities, evaluating and enhancing the claims and their prospects, accessing capital from investors (which Fulbrook has relationships with and trust in), negotiating funding agreements, supporting and where appropriate improving the prosecution and resolution of the claims. We emphasize patents, international arbitrations, insolvency and related matters, and claims which are in their essence serious breach of contract cases (regardless of classification).
