Third party litigation funding in England and Wales: an overview

Litigation funding, also known as third party funding or litigation finance, is where a third party (with no prior connection to the litigation) agrees to finance all or part of the legal costs of the litigation, in return for a fee payable from the proceeds recovered by the funded litigant. This practice note considers how litigation funding works, the circumstances in which a litigant might wish to use litigation funding, the ethical issues that might arise, the type of proceedings for which funding might be available and what that funding might cover, the prerequisites that a funder is likely to look for and how to apply for litigation funding. It concludes by looking at the future of litigation funding.