TIL Conference: Third Party Litigation Funding: The Past, The Present and The Future

Organizers: Prof. Tom Baker, Prof. Joanna Shepherd, Prof. Anthony Sebok & Prof. Ronen Avraham

Third Party Litigation Funding: The Past, The Present and The Future 

June 13–14, 2023

Third party litigation funding (TPLF) where financial corporations support plaintiffs' lawsuits by advancing money as a nonrecourse loan, is attracting controversy. The conference is aimed at investigating the different modules of third-party litigation funding, and the regulators attitude towards this phenomenon, around the world. More specifically, the conference will address some of these themes and questions, both empirically and normatively:

1. How do businesses respond to consumer protection legal restrictions? Do they comply with the regulation? Do they stop funding litigation, or do they find ways around the restrictions?

2. Should legal ethics rules be adjusted to the phenomenon, by allowing law firms to land funds to their clients, in order to increase competition in the field? Or by amending the restriction on lawyers to split fees with non-lawyers?

3. How does TPLF effects agency cost, and the fee arrangements between the plaintiff and her lawyer?

4. Procedural examination – Should a disclosure regime encompass financial support for litigation activities? If so, to what extant?

5. Comparative examination – A broad analysis of TPLF regulations in the EU, US and other countries. Regulations vary significantly between countries and within states or provinces in federal entities. What is the optimal approach?