Putting on a poker face, by Alan Kohler - Business Spectator

An interesting sidelight to the Opes Prime debacle is that two of Australia’s leading class action players – IMF (Australia) and Slater and Gordon – seem to have had a falling out.

IMF is Australia’s only litigation funder – a monopoly in a relatively new field. There are really only two law firms it can use to run class action cases: Slater and Gordon and Maurice Blackburn.

That’s because the other major law firms have too many conflicts for corporate class actions and none of the other independent firms is big enough.

After swapping between the two firms for a couple of years, IMF has now settled on Maurice Blackburn because, according to IMF sources, they provide a better service.

There is no formal partnership arrangement between them – it’s just that IMF has decided it prefers MB over S&G and will use them most, if not all, of the time.

This is a disaster for the listed Slater and Gordon since IMF is a monopoly provider of litigation funding in Australia. Its response has been to find someone else who is prepared to enter the Australian market.

Step up, Reagan Silber, the man behind Commonwealth Legal Funding LLC, which is funding Slater and Gordon’s Opes Prime case, as well as its Centro class action.

Mr Silber is a champion poker player who came 46th in the 2007 Poker World Series. He is also a successful plaintiff lawyer who made a lot of money in property.

Now he is taking on IMF in Australia via class actions with Slater and Gordon, and is planning to turn the Australian litigation funding business into a duopoly instead of a monopoly.

Could be an interesting stoush: Peter Gordon and the poker maestro Reagan Silber up against Rob Ferguson (the former CEO of BT Australia), Hugh McLernon and John Walker at IMF, with the redoubtable Bernard Murphy at Maurice Blackburn.

Media Man Australia Profiles

Poker

Casino

Financial News

Poker and Casino News