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Loopa Finance Earns Chambers 2026 Band 1 in Latin America and Rises to Band 3 in Europe

Loopa Finance has strengthened its standing in the global litigation funding market with its latest recognition from Chambers and Partners, which named the firm Band 1 in Latin America in the Litigation Support – Litigation Funding category and advanced it to Band 3 in Europe. The dual ranking reflects the funder's continued expansion across both regions and its growing presence in one of the world's most competitive markets for legal finance.

According to Loopa Finance, the 2026 edition also individually ranked four members of its team: Managing Partner Fernando Folgueiro, General Counsel Europe Ignacio Delgado, Investment Manager Marina Gouveia, and Head of Legal Federico Muradas. The firm framed the distinctions as validation of a multidisciplinary team combining legal expertise, financial analysis, and strategic vision across multiple jurisdictions.

"This recognition is the result of a philosophy that places our clients at the center of everything we do," said Folgueiro, adding that Loopa's aim is to develop financing solutions that "expand access to justice and enable the strongest claims to move forward based on their merits, regardless of access to capital."

The rankings arrive as Loopa builds on recent momentum, including the close of its USD 70 million Fund III, which significantly increased its capacity to finance litigation, international arbitration, and other high-value legal assets. Executives pointed to Brazil's sophisticated legal ecosystem and maturing European markets such as Italy and Portugal as areas of particular opportunity as the firm continues its pan-regional expansion.

Independence Day Op-Ed Frames Consumer Legal Funding as the Freedom to Pursue Justice

In an Independence Day editorial, the Alliance for Responsible Consumer Legal Funding (ARC) argues that meaningful freedom includes the ability of injured Americans to pursue their legal claims without financial desperation forcing them into unfair settlements. The piece positions consumer legal funding as a practical tool for keeping the outcome of a case tied to its facts rather than to a plaintiff's bank balance.

Writing in the National Law Review, ARC president Eric Schuller contends that "justice delayed can quickly become justice denied when mounting bills force individuals into decisions they otherwise would never make." Defendants, he argues, understand this dynamic and can use the length of the civil justice process to pressure vulnerable plaintiffs into accepting less than their claims are worth.

Schuller distinguishes consumer legal funding from commercial litigation finance and traditional lending. These are typically small, non-recourse advances — often $3,000 to $5,000 — used for everyday necessities such as rent, groceries, and medical bills while a claim proceeds. Because the funding is non-recourse, a consumer who loses the underlying case owes nothing. ARC's guiding principle, he writes, is "Funding Lives, Not Litigation."

The editorial also makes the case for responsible oversight, endorsing disclosure requirements, attorney acknowledgment, and prohibitions on funders influencing litigation strategy — safeguards intended to protect consumers while preserving their access to the tool.

Nera Capital Backs Landmark Court of Appeal Ruling for Motor Finance Consumers

Litigation funder Nera Capital has welcomed a Court of Appeal judgment in the Angel v Black Horse Limited motor finance litigation, calling it a significant step forward for consumer redress and large-scale collective claims. The ruling confirms that where thousands of claims raise substantially the same legal and factual issues, they may proceed using omnibus claim forms rather than requiring each claimant to issue separate proceedings.

According to Nera Capital, which has supported the litigation from its earliest stages, the decision removes unnecessary procedural complexity and enables the more efficient progression of high-volume motor finance commission claims. "For consumers, the decision removes unnecessary procedural complexity and supports more efficient progression of claims, strengthening access to justice," a spokesperson said, adding that individuals with materially similar claims should not face additional delay or cost solely because of the scale of the litigation.

The funder framed the judgment as delivering benefits across the system. For law firms, it provides certainty in managing high-volume claims, allowing them to focus resources on the substantive merits rather than duplicating procedural steps across thousands of individual cases. For the courts, the endorsement of omnibus proceedings in appropriate cases supports more efficient use of judicial resources.

As one of the first funders involved in motor finance commission litigation, Nera Capital said it remains committed to enabling access to justice through financial support for complex, large-scale claims. "This is a landmark decision for collective consumer litigation in England and Wales," a spokesperson said. "We have funded the Angel litigation from the outset because we believed consumers deserved a clear, efficient and proportionate route to redress." The ruling establishes a procedural framework for the next phase of claims as substantive issues continue to be determined.

AI Is Making Litigation Profitable at Smaller Claim Sizes

Artificial intelligence is lowering the cost of building a legal case, and in doing so it is reshaping the economics of litigation finance by making smaller claims viable to pursue. As the expense of scoring, sorting, and preparing cases falls, so too does the minimum claim size at which litigation — and the funding behind it — becomes worthwhile.

As reported by PYMNTS, plaintiff firms are increasingly deploying AI to identify promising cases and concentrate resources on those flagged as most likely to produce substantial verdicts. Under the contingency-fee model, that targeting turns previously uneconomical claims into candidates for investment. One analysis found that 56 plaintiff firms focused on transportation claims spent more than $228 million annually on paid search advertising, with roughly 88% running active campaigns — a measure of how aggressively the plaintiffs' bar is scaling case acquisition.

The pressure is most visible in commercial auto liability, where the loss-and-defense-cost ratio reached 87.6 in 2024, the highest in eleven years, and the line posted a $4.9 billion underwriting loss — its fourteenth consecutive year in the red.

For litigation funders, the shift is double-edged. AI expands the universe of fundable claims and could help drive the market toward a projected $50 billion by the mid-2030s, but it also intensifies competition for the most promising cases and raises fresh questions about how efficiently capital is deployed. As the technology matures, the economics of what counts as a "fundable" claim are being rewritten in real time.

New Jersey Assembly Passes Third-Party Litigation Funding Disclosure Bill

The New Jersey General Assembly has passed legislation requiring the disclosure of third-party litigation funding agreements, advancing the state toward becoming the latest to impose transparency obligations on the funding industry. The bill cleared the Assembly by an overwhelming margin, even as companion legislation in the state Senate has drawn pushback from trial lawyers and litigation finance representatives.

As reported by Law360, the measure requires parties to disclose the existence of third-party litigation funding arrangements and establishes a set of responsibilities for funders. Notably, the bill is framed as protecting plaintiffs as much as defendants: it requires funders to act in the best interests of the funded party, prohibits them from interfering with litigation decisions, and ensures that plaintiffs retain control over their own cases.

Supporters, including the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, argue that disclosure is essential because undisclosed funding can create conflicts of interest, complicate judicial administration, and allow funders to exert hidden influence over litigation. Opponents counter that mandatory disclosure risks exposing strategic information and chilling legitimate access to capital.

New Jersey's move reflects a broader national trend, with a growing number of states and federal proposals seeking to bring third-party funding arrangements into the open. With the Assembly bill now passed, attention turns to the Senate, where the industry's resistance may shape whether — and in what form — the disclosure regime ultimately becomes law. For funders operating in the state, the vote is a signal that transparency requirements are gaining legislative momentum.

UK’s Largest Housebuilders Face £4.5bn Burford-Funded Class Action Over New-Build Pricing

Nine of Britain's biggest housebuilders are facing a collective action at the Competition Appeal Tribunal alleging they unlawfully shared competitively sensitive information that inflated the price of new-build homes. The claim, valued at between £2.2 billion and £4.5 billion, is backed by Burford Capital and stands as one of the most significant funded consumer competition cases to reach the CAT this year.

As reported by PropertyWire, the action is brought by class representative Mark McLaren on behalf of more than 700,000 people who purchased a new-build home in Great Britain between October 2015 and June 24, 2026. The defendants include Barratt Redrow, Bellway, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Vistry Group, The Berkeley Group, Bloor Homes, and Countryside Partnerships. Court documents allege the builders exchanged information on prices, buyer incentives, and sales activity, reducing competition and leaving buyers paying more than they should have.

Burford Capital has committed up to £29 million to the proceedings, meaning class members bear no financial risk and pay nothing if the claim fails. Estimated compensation ranges from £3,100 to £6,200 per affected homeowner.

The case underscores the central role litigation finance now plays in enabling large-scale UK collective actions, where the cost and complexity of pursuing hundreds of thousands of claims would be prohibitive without third-party capital. It also places one of the world's largest funders behind a high-profile consumer claim against a politically sensitive industry, ensuring the proceedings will be closely watched as they advance.

LCM Secures Covenant Waiver Extension as Fresh Case Write-Downs Loom

Litigation Capital Management has won another short extension of the covenant waiver on its debt facility, buying the funder additional time to resolve its capital structure while it pursues a strategic review. The AIM-listed funder paired the announcement with a warning of fresh write-downs on two case investments, sending its shares sharply lower.

As reported by Proactive Investors, lender Northleaf agreed to extend the covenant waiver by one month, to June 30, with the loan's interest margin remaining two percentage points higher than its standard rate but without an additional waiver fee. The extension follows earlier waivers granted in December 2025 and January 2026, underscoring the prolonged nature of LCM's efforts to stabilize its balance sheet.

Alongside the waiver, LCM disclosed adverse developments in two case investments carrying roughly A$9 million of deployed capital, which are expected to produce material write-downs in its next set of financial statements. Investors reacted by sending the stock down around 13%.

The update lands as LCM continues a strategic review aimed at addressing the mismatch between its funding commitments and available capital — a challenge that has weighed on several listed funders as longer case durations and adverse outcomes test the patience of lenders and shareholders alike. How LCM resolves its covenant position in the coming weeks will be closely watched as a barometer for the listed litigation finance sector.

New Zealand Family Law Firms Turn to Third-Party Funding to Ease Cashflow Crunch

New Zealand family law practices are increasingly treating third-party funding as a core part of their business model rather than a last resort, as firms look to convert uncertain and delayed fee recovery into secured, predictable revenue. The shift reflects a broader migration of litigation finance into the consumer and family-law space, where client liquidity — not the merits of a matter — often dictates whether a case proceeds.

As reported by LawFuel, Australian-based family law funder JustFund, which launched in New Zealand last year, has now approved close to NZ$5 million in funding across 92 accredited firms, with its loan book growing 36% in the most recent quarter. Once funding is approved, invoices are paid within 24 hours, shifting the financial risk of delayed settlements away from the firm.

The model assesses funding against expected property settlements, a structure suited to family disputes where assets exist but remain locked up until resolution. New Zealand recorded 7,887 divorces in 2025, up 5% on the prior year, underscoring steady demand.

Lauren Milne, JustFund's Director of Family Law, said firms are increasingly "bringing funding into matters earlier, embedding it into client onboarding rather than waiting for payment issues to emerge." The trend points to a maturing market in which funding is positioned not as a rescue mechanism for distressed matters but as standard infrastructure for managing a practice's cashflow — even among clients whose income belies their short-term capacity to pay.

High Court Rules Litigation Funding Documents Are Not Protected by Privilege

The English High Court has ruled that communications generated to secure third-party funding are not shielded by litigation privilege, a decision that sharpens the disclosure risks facing funded claimants and the funders who back them. The ruling came in the long-running £300 million-plus claim brought by some 13,000 black-cab drivers against Uber, which alleges the company misrepresented its business model to Transport for London.

As reported by Legal Futures, Mr Justice Birt rejected arguments that documents passing between the claimants' solicitors, Mishcon de Reya, their litigation funder, and the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association were covered by litigation privilege. Uber had sought disclosure of materials created between late 2017 and October 2018 — before the claimants had formally instructed solicitors — and the court agreed they were disclosable.

Central to the judgment was a distinction the court drew between a party assessing its own potential claim, which attracts privilege, and a funder evaluating whether to support someone else's litigation, which does not. The documents' dominant purpose, the judge found, was to enable a funding decision rather than to conduct litigation. As one firm observing the case put it, "the decision to fund litigation is not itself conduct of litigation."

The practical implications are significant. Defendants in group actions may now gain access to early communications that reveal what claimants knew, and when, while prospective litigants are being urged to weigh carefully what information they share with funders before a claim is formally underway.