Burford Capital
The CEO of the world’s largest litigation finance company aimed to leverage its preeminence to elevate awareness of the industry and enhance the industry’s reputation.
Burford is the world’s largest provider of commercial legal finance, having worked with hundreds of leading law firms and businesses. With investment commitments of $5.5 billion, and traded on the New York Stock Exchange, Burford is the clear leader of a little understood—and often misunderstood—category. The company’s CEO wanted to change this, starting with a new digital experience that not only explains legal finance but also demonstrates how the category is a force for good in the world’s vast and complex legal ecosystem.
Following management and client interviews, we developed user personas for Burford’s primary audiences (attorneys and corporate executives) as well as secondary audiences (media, regulators, investors and employees/prospects). This comprehensive fact base provided a deep understanding of industry perceptions and motivating needs, guiding us to develop a content strategy and user experience aligned with what their audience is looking for. The research also confirmed that many potential clients were unaware of or didn’t fully understand legal finance … and that some had a dim view of the category.
The research and personas clarified four key goals for the new site. First, tell the Burford story in a simple but compelling way, inspiring audiences not only to engage with the company but to become advocates for the work they do. The site needed to create a guided approach to learning about litigation funding to drive people deeper based on their needs—explaining the what, how and why of litigation finance to benefit the entire industry. Thought leadership needed to be more prominently featured to promote the important role of litigation finance in the global legal system. Finally, the site needed to communicate the real value of litigation finance, both for the industry’s clients and the people their clients serve.
The new site achieves these goals by creating a digital experience that is both engaging and educational. The site offers uniquely deep and easily accessible information on what legal finance is and how it works, with strategic use of infographics to outline exactly what clients can expect. The company’s services are clearly delineated by audience, supported by ample case studies searchable by topic, audience and content. The positive impact of the industry on individuals and communities is highlighted throughout the site. To showcase a key component of Burford’s own contribution to this greater good, the new site strongly promotes its Equity Project, an award-winning initiative that aims to close the diversity gap in commercial litigation and arbitration.
Beginning with their new website, Burford is changing the conversation from what litigation finance is to what litigation can achieve … for Burford clients and the broader community.
DeSantis Breindel’s work is extremely high caliber. They exceeded our expectations and collaborated well every step of the way.
