Selvyn Seidel is a betting man. He’s betting that life after a partnership at Latham & Watkins will provide continued riches and that the pallid economy can sustain his recent venture. He’s also betting that it’s the beginning of a new age in litigation.

Retired from Latham in 2006, he and former Time Warner Inc. General Counsel Christopher Bogart in October launched Burford Capital, a third-party litigation funding firm that plans to invest in large-scale commercial litigation and arbitration in the United States and elsewhere on both the plaintiff and defense sides.