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Harbour
Who we are What we do Code of Conduct What is Litigation Funding? What types of cases do we fund? What do we look for in a case? How does the funding work?
What is litigation funding?
Litigation funding is where a party, who is not the Claimant to an action, agrees to cover all or some of the costs of the litigation, in return for a share of the proceeds if the litigation is successful. Litigation funding is not a new concept.

Until relatively recently, it was limited in the United Kingdom to insolvency situations and there are still a number of lawyers who still think it is not otherwise permitted - that is not true.

A funder may fund a case but it cannot control the way in which the Claimant conducts their litigation. As Claimant you will be permitted to run the litigation in exactly the same way you would have, had you been paying the bills.

The value to a Claimant of working with an experienced funder like Harbour is that we understand litigation, including how it does not always go according to plan and that it can often both take longer and cost more than the Claimant anticipated.

Most people litigate only rarely and can benefit from having an experienced funder like Harbour at their side.

Having Harbour alongside also sends a powerful message to the defendant that they cannot simply adopt a 'scorched earth' approach of trying to run up costs in the hope that the Claimant will not be able to afford to continue with their claim.
History of Litigation Funding
Funding of litigation by a third party has occurred since people first litigated

Medieval periodNotions of champerty and maintenance introduced to prevent those who do not have the right to pursue a claim, from interfering in the court process

1880 

Seear v Lawson [1880] 15 Ch D 426 - funding endorsed in the United Kingdom in the context of insolvencies

 

1955

Martell v Consett Iron Company [1955] 1 Ch 363 – states that a defendant shall not be entitled to stay proceedings even if a funding agreement is deemed champertous

 
1967 Champerty and maintenance are decriminalised and eliminated as torts in the United Kingdom

1995Conditional Fee Agreements (CFAs) come into effect as a result of the English Courts and Legal Services Act 1990

1995After the Event Insurance (AEI) emerges and is shortly afterward coupled with CFAs – recoverability of insurance premiums is introduced in 2000

1997Allianz establishes litigation funding venture in Germany, followed by Austria and Switzerland

2001IMF (Australia) Ltd, Australian Litigation funders are listed on Australian Stock Exchange (ASX: IMF)

2002IM Litigation Funding established by Susan Dunn and others

2003

Hamilton v Al-Fayed (No 2) [2003] QB 1175

 
2005

Arkin v Borchard Lines Ltd & Ors [2005] EWCA Civ 655 - English Court of Appeal decision explicitly endorses funding as part of its judgment.  Also finds that a funder is liable to the other side for costs only to the extent of its own funding

 
2007
UK Civil Justice Council endorses third party funding in its report, “Improved Access to Justice – The Future Funding of Litigation”, following a presentation by Susan Dunn
 
2007Law Society (England and Wales) Code of Conduct s2.03, requires solicitors to discuss funding options with their clients

2007

Campbells Cash and Carry Pty Limited v Fostif Pty Limited [2006] HCA 41 – the High Court of Australia removes the final vestiges of champerty and maintenance in the Australian system and indeed goes further in allowing funders to have an active role in the conduct of the litigation

 
2007Harbour Litigation Funding is established by Brett Carron, Susan Dunn and Martin Tonnby

2009
Cook on Costs – the leading UK publication on costs (written by a former costs judge, Michael Cook, and published annually) – third party funding makes its first appearance with a dedicated chapter, in which it is endorsed

 
2010
Lord Justice Rupert Jackson's Preliminary Costs Review is published – a dedicated chapter endorses the existence of third party funding

 
2011
Code of Conduct for Litigation Funders is adopted and the Association of Litigation Funders is formed