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The past decade has seen dramatic growth in the market for third-party funded litigation. The introduction in 2015 of an opt-out collective regime for actions alleging breaches of competition law accelerated this trend, and it is now estimated that funders’ investments in UK litigation are approaching £1 billion a year.
Despite this, some corporates and some law firms still have reservations about using third-party funders, many of which were brought to light in a survey AlixPartners conducted with The Lawyer earlier this year (that you can read here)
Insights from our survey were the starting point for a fascinating panel event we hosted earlier this month, featuring Susan Dunn (Founder of Harbour Litigation Funding), Lesley Hannah (Partner, Hausfeld), Peter Burrell (Managing Partner (UK), Willkie Farr), Iona McCall (Managing Director, AlixPartners) and Gordon Stevenson (Managing Director, AlixPartners). The three hot topics discussed were:
- In certain segments of the legal market, is there still a failure to recognise the value that funders can bring, and are concerns over loss of control over the legal process justified?
- What are the implications of the growth in tie-ups between law firms and funders, and are there associated risks regarding independence, conflict of interest or restriction of choice?
- What will the market for litigation funding look like in the future and will the increasing scrutiny around ESG drive a rise in claims?
You can watch the full (45 minutes) discussion at the top of this post, and can also read more AlixPartners posts on the topic of litigation funding below:
Litigation funding tie-ups – the latest transatlantic legal trend
What’s behind the rapid growth of third-party litigation funding?
