Manolete Partners reported nine separate insolvency litigation case completions in the first three months of 2017, including one per week in March 2017. All cases were won.

The cases ranged from a £20,000 Director’s Loan Account, a £250,000 claim against a High Street Bank and a £1.5m Misfeasance Claim – a typical spread of the type of work that Manolete undertakes with IPs and insolvency lawyers.

These cases featured us funding and acquiring claims from some of the very largest accountancy firms in the UK, as well as small one and two partner specialist recovery practices in the regions.

On all cases a material recovery was made into the various Creditor Estates.

On smaller cases the Manolete recovery was the only asset available to cover IP’s statutory regulation work.

On medium and larger cases, large six figure sums were recovered for the significant benefit of creditors. All IP WIP prior to Manolete’s involvement was recovered in full, as well as legacy legal costs that had been unpaid before we were approached.

On all cases the majority/large majority of the recoveries was paid into the Estate (with Manolete always receiving a minority share) – all legal fees incurred post our involvement having already been settled by Manolete as the work was incurred.

As is standard with our insolvency litigation model, ATE was not used on any of the nine cases. If ATE had been applied, in many instances the Estates’ recoveries, particularly on the smaller and mid-size cases, would have been minimal. Instead, with our strong track record of only ever having lost one of our 169 contracted cases, Manolete simply assumes the full adverse cost risk, at no cost whatsoever to the case nor to the Estate. The Manolete Model therefore significantly maximises returns to creditors.

We also never use CFA arrangements with our external lawyers. We are there to take the full risk on the case – not the lawyers nor the IP/Company. We always make at least an initial cash payment into the Estate and then we pay for the work done as incurred (this includes additional IP case work as well as solicitor, barrister, expert and court fees). Again, this maximises the final recovery to the Creditor Estate – as all these cases were won, if litigated using a CFA, a large success fee would have been payable. Instead Manolete completely de-risks the legal teams and simply pays for the work as it is done. This greatly increases cashflow to the solicitors and barristers, many of whom are working with Manolete on multiple cases at any one time. We have become a very significant client to the solicitors and barristers that we engage. Our house policy is that the IP always chooses the legal team. There is no (and there has never been) “Manolete Panel” of approved solicitors and barristers. If the solicitor or barrister brings us the case, naturally, they are guaranteed to be retained if we fund or purchase the claim. Around half of our cases come from the legal community and half direct from IPs.

The one case we have lost resulted in a large six figure payment to the defendant’s legal team. As ATE was not employed, we simply settled this matter directly from our balance sheet. The IP/Insolvent Company retained the initial payment she had received on the case and naturally the IP’s solicitors and counsel retained all the fees we had paid while the claim was being progressed. Manolete simply wrote off the entire own and adverse costs. Litigation is inherently high risk: the funder must be there for the bad times, not just the good.