Say it isn’t so, or say it is so. Two hundred years ago and even more recently, litigation funders
were considered ruthless scoundrels and access to justice was limited to only those who could
afford the high costs of litigation.
Whether or not the American legal market is ready for commercial litigation funding, it is here and here to stay. Although commercial litigation finance may be new in the States, Bentham IMF’s parent, Bentham IMF Ltd, is the world’s most experienced commercial litigation funder and has been funding cases in Australia and around the world since 2001.
Regulations introduced in 2013 requires litigation funders to have adequate, documented practices for managing any conflict of interest that might arise in funded litigation. The presentation provides an overview of the conflicts management regime, how it is managed and the impacts it will have for litigation funders.
IMF Bentham has financed many significant Australian representative proceedings and class actions, particularly those brought on behalf of aggrieved shareholders and investors.
IMF chooses its cases with care and in this paper for the UNSW Law Journal, the funding criteria for multi-party actions are examined and discussed, including IMF's assessment of liability risks, quantum risks and enforcement risks.
