NASHVILLE — Statera’s Chip Hodgkins and Matt Blumenstein recently taught a short course on commercial litigation finance at Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville, Tennessee. The class introduced students to the fundamental concepts of commercial litigation finance across legal, economic, and ethical dimensions. The class explored these concepts from the perspective of lawyers, clients, courts, and investors, including by leveraging real-world case studies. As a capstone to the class, students put their new knowledge to work by working as teams to evaluate and structure a realistic litigation finance transaction.
The Chambers-ranked Statera team brought a unique combination of experiences to the class. Chip, who holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, has nearly 20 years of principal investing, M&A, and finance experience. He served as CFO of InnerWorkings, Inc., and was directly responsible for sourcing, negotiating, and closing more than 40 acquisitions at the company. Matt is a 2009 graduate of Vanderbilt Law School and a Lawdragon Global 100 Leader in Litigation Finance. He practiced at Williams & Connolly for more than a decade and clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. At Statera, they have reviewed nearly 1,000 cases for potential financing and have underwritten and structured dozens of investments in meritorious commercial claims.
Founded in 1874, Vanderbilt Law School is one of the oldest and most preeminent law schools in the United States. It is consistently ranked among the top 20 law schools nationally.