In 2021, Deminor opened its first German office and welcomed Dr. Malte Stübinger to help grow Deminor’s presence in the German litigation funding market. The opening of the German office and the addition of Malte to the team, to work alongside General Counsel Germany Felix von Zwehl, came at a time of significant growth in demand for Deminor’s litigation funding services in Germany.
To celebrate the one year anniversary, we sat down with Malte to speak to him about his highlights over the last year, and where he sees the future of litigation funding in German moving.
Looking back at your first year at Deminor, what have been the highlights of your time so far and how would you describe your journey with Deminor so far?
Moving from BigLaw to Deminor has been a huge step into the unknown for me, and it turned out to be the best decision I could have made. The team spirit and dedication I have experienced at Deminor are second to none. While I profit from my experiences I made as a commercial Litigator literally every day, there is so much strategical and economic thinking beyond the law that I have learned to apply, and that gave me a whole new perspective on commercial disputes.
It is hard to single out a specific highlight. From day one on, my colleagues and the partners at Deminor have given me a huge leap of faith and created an atmosphere in which I enjoy a lot of room for individual decisions and development, which has been a wonderful welcome into the team.
Beyond this, I am particularly happy about the positive feedback we get from clients after working our way through very complex disputes and getting to a positive funding decision.
Finally, after more than two years of mostly remote gatherings, I also very much enjoy going out there, meeting attorneys and clients, and attending conferences to discuss funding and related issues. It’s such a huge difference to see each other eye-to-eye again.
We’re celebrating one year of the new Deminor Hamburg office, what does it mean to you and Deminor having a local presence and ‘feet on the ground’ in this region?
The whole experience of building up our local presence in the German funding market, shaping our profile, building trust with clients and attorneys, and, last but not least, funding great cases for German clients, has been breath-taking. Deminor had been active in Germany before, but in the last year, we have certainly jump-started activities and managed to sharpen our profile as a fair and transparent litigation funder and a reliable partner for litigators and clients.
I am very happy about the ever-increasing demand in our services, as it shows that there is a need in the market, and that we must, hopefully, be doing something right. It makes me particularly happy to see that we will be growing as a team. A new colleague is starting in Hamburg in August, and towards the end of the year we are looking forward to a further addition to the team.
What are some of the key changes you have seen over the last 12 months in Litigation Funding in Germany? And what are the vital trends you see in this region looking to the next 12 months?
Germany is a very mature and well-developed legal market, notably the largest in Europe, but litigation funding in complex commercial cases is still a rather fresh phenomenon. An increasing trend is the use of funding as a strategic tool to hedge risks – not because the plaintiff does not have the necessary funds available. This can make a lot of sense for companies, and helps transforming legal departments into profit centres within an organization. I believe this development is set to continue.
Furthermore, we are seeing more and more diversification of funding providers into certain market segments and niches. For Inhouse-counsel and Litigators, it is becoming increasingly important and helpful to understand which funder could be the best fit for a certain case. Funding can be a lot more than paying the attorney bills, and people are starting to understand those differences and nuances. We at Deminor see ourselves as a strategic partner to our clients and the attorneys litigating the cases. I believe this development in the market will continue, and we will be out there, meeting our colleagues and clients, listening, in order to even better understand their needs, and develop our services accordingly. What will always be at the core of our services are our values, our striving for excellence, and our commitment to funding good, ethical cases for our clients.
For further information, please visit: www.deminor.com
Malte can be contacted directly at malte.stuebinger@deminor.com
