The Global Arbitration Review (GAR, paid site) reported on the Stanford conference where Eric Z. Chang was a panelist and a presenter. The conference, organized by the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center (SVAMC), addressed the advantages of international arbitration and mediation for tech-related disputes. This conference was previously described here.
The GAR article highlighted Eric Z. Chang’s presentation on third-party funding and the factors that businesses should weigh when deciding to use external funding to resolve a dispute. One prime factor, for example, is a company’s expected return on investment in its own R&D or marketing. When those returns are high (as is sometimes the case with certain high-growth tech companies), third-party funding allows a company to free up resources for those initiatives while still pursuing its legal claims through an external funder.
Eric Z. Chang also led a discussion on the potential ramifications of third-party funding and the possibility of future regulation.