Litigation funding firm Burford Group has hired Melissa Sobel as corporate counsel in New York.

Sobel (pictured) was most recently associate general counsel at Time Inc, where over the last eight-and-a-half years she advised multiple divisions of the media giant. She worked on licensing and digital content distributions, television and book deals, strategic alliances and joint ventures.

Previously, Sobel was a senior corporate attorney at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York, regularly working on US and international mergers and acquisitions, as well as securities offerings, financing transactions and restructurings, corporate spin-offs, private investments and other matters.

Sobel will primarily focus on Burford’s investment portfolio, which consists of commercial disputes at various stages of adjudication that the company has targeted for potential financial recovery. 

Launched in 2009, Burford is now the largest player in the growing field for litigation funding. The firm has committed nearly USD300m across a diverse spectrum of disputes – from intellectual property cases to lawsuits involving trade secrets, contracts, real estate, securities law and other areas. 

“Our portfolio is extremely robust and dynamic and we continue to find new ways of structuring our investments,” says Burford chief executive Christopher Bogart. “Melissa arrives at just the right time and she brings the ideal skills as a transactional lawyer and in-house counsel. In addition to helping close deals, she’ll oversee the myriad legal issues that inevitably arise before and after we invest.”