Funding

Three-quarters of lawyers at big law firms and major corporations say their businesses have used litigation funding, more than twice the number from three years ago, a report has found.

Burford Capital’s share price is rising steadily as it claims the latest results show that concerns about its business model that saw a short-selling attack last year are misplaced.

Listed funder Litigation Capital Management expects to have committed the $150m (£117m) it raised in March by the end of the year as demand continues to increase at a brisk rate.

Lockdown does not appear to have affected the business of funding insolvency litigation, with market-leader Manolete Partners acquiring or funding 84 new cases since April.

City firm Rosenblatt is ramping up its use of contingent funding agreements, while its litigation finance arm has now invested in nine cases, the listed business’s half-year results have shown.

Boutique litigation law firm Provenio has unveiled a £50m portfolio financing deal for high-value business litigation and arbitration claims with litigation funder Therium.

The International Legal Finance Association has been launched in Washington DC, with a substantial presence in London, to give a global voice to the commercial litigation funding industry.

Affiniti Finance – which specialises in loan-based funding to support litigation – has unveiled plans for huge expansion after a £250m capital raise backed by an unnamed “multi-billion-dollar” US-based fund.