In Asia, legal funding has been used in insolvency cases for over ten years. Since Hong Kong and Singapore adopted a funding framework for third-party arbitration, appreciation for funding has grown.

It’s well known that information loses its attorney-client privilege when shared with a third party. Increasingly, however, rulings are allowing for documents and exchanges shared with third-party legal funders to be protected.

His Honor Judge Cadwallader ruled that a couple suing their former solicitors should be held liable for costs. The Liverpool judge also affirmed that Vanessa and Michael Kennedy breached their agreement with law firm Bermans and the funder, Escalate Law, when they misled their lawyers.

The High Court of Singapore took a dramatic step recently in granting ‘super priority’ status in a corporate restructuring. This is the first time any third-party legal funder has been given such an order since Singapore’s IRDA became law in 2018

New Jersey’s new disclosure rule regarding third-party legal funding is in effect. As such, a recent climate change case saw the disclosure of a non-profit providing limited funding for attorney…

This past year has seen multiple judgments supporting the validity of class actions—once thought ‘too American’ for many jurisdictions. London courts in particular have paved the way for collective actions against big businesses. Litigation funding has proliferated, and is spurring access for justice to parties who would otherwise be left out in the cold.

As lawyers, courts, and plaintiffs develop an appreciation for Litigation Finance, competition becomes increasingly robust. Demand for funding is up, as are the number of new funders throwing their hats into the ring. There’s a wide array of funding entities now, and they vary in terms of preferred case size, minimum and maximum deployments, jurisdiction, commercial or industry specialties, and more.

Litigation Finance is a growing asset class, spurred on by the financial fallout caused by COVID. Increasingly, investors are seeking uncorrelated investments. As Gary Sweidan, founder of Taurus Capital explains, litigation funding is about as uncorrelated as it gets.

It’s no surprise that COVID has resulted in an influx of insurance-related litigation. Specifically—the question of whether individual commercial insurance policies cover business interruption caused by the pandemic.