Now that hedge funds have become heartily entrenched in the distressed-debt market, and there are fewer bargains to be had, some venturous ones are pioneering a new money-making opportunity: funding legal claims. "Debt is not trading at a substantial discount to par," Mark Hyde, who head restructuring at the British law firm Clifford Chance told Reuters. "The market has become saturated so that the more sophisticated investors are looking at buying claims, including trade claims and even litigation claims. According to Tony Lomas of PricewaterhouseCoopers, there are "a number of funds" that will finance "speculative litigation for a very significant share of the proceeds." Lomas said in a Reuters interview that he gets calls from people asking if he needs financing, which can take various forms, such as legal claims against a bankrupt company, or claims arising from delays in completing projects. Some funds may even acquire a bunch of smaller claims against, say, the government, or claims for which the proceeds are due some time down the road but the claimants can't wait. HFs becoming claimants may have some difficulty in the U.K., however, as the law says a claimant must be a party to the case at hand, but it may not stop fund either. "There are often ways of pursuing the claims, James Roome of the London office of the law firm Bingham McCutchen told Reuters. "That's why people consult us."