Describing the third-party litigation financing business as "lumpy, unpredictable and high-risk," Burford Capital nonetheless announced significant increases in its financial results on Thursday.

In its effort to discredit lawyers holding an allegedly fraudulent $19 billion environmental judgment against it, Chevron Corporation has found an unlikely ally: Burford Capital, the world's largest litigation financing company, which in 2010 agreed to invest up to $15 million in the worldwide effort to enforce the mega-judgment.

It's time to declare third-party litigation financing a bona fide investment class: Invesco and Fidelity snapped up shares in Burford Capital, a fund whose personnel includes two former Time Warner GCs and three retired Latham litigation partners. Burford plans to invest in U.S. commercial litigation and international arbitration.

Burford Capital, the world's biggest litigation financing company, is getting bigger.

According to an internal Burford document--which outlined proposed economic terms for funding the plaintiffs in the Lago Agrio litigation--Burford was concerned about an "unnaturally low" settlement. To prevent that, it didn't want the plaintiffs to settle for less than $900 million without Burford's consent.

The litigation financing firm Burford Group took in $47 million in recoveries last year—its best performance since its founding in 2009. CEO Christopher Bogart talked with us about why he thinks both law firms and corporate clients can benefit from third-party litigation funding.

Day Two of trial in Chevron's fraud and RICO case against Steven Donziger and his Ecuadorian allies centered on the testimony of Christopher Bogart, founder and CEO of the prominent U.S.-based litigation financier Burford Capital.