Susan Dunn tracks the trends in litigation funding
The past 18 months have seen a number of changes in the world of litigation funding (LF)—where a third party previously unconnected with the litigation or arbitration, pays the legal costs of the dispute on behalf of the claimant in return for a share of the proceeds only if the case is successful. The overwhelming single trend has been the significant increase in interest and use of funding by every type of practitioner.
Impact of Jackson
Jackson undoubtedly had a positive impact on the acceptance of LF. While there were no express changes introduced about the use of LF by Jackson, the endorsement provided by its Chapter 11 undoubtedly helped remove residual concerns about the use of LF. Since September 2012, at Harbour we have seen the number of enquiries we receive for funding increase from around 25 each month to 40-50 each month. As yet the quality of enquiry is yet to catch up with the increase in enquiries.
