When Herbert Smith’s litigation team announces that it is undertaking a strategic review of any aspect of its dispute resolution practice, commercial litigators must sit up and take notice. Herbert Smith’s new initiative – recently trailed in Legal Week – to consider whether it should be promoting third-party funding options to its clients raised more than a few eyebrows.
What has prompted the City’s top litigation team’s review of something that has been a part of the litigation landscape for a number of years? It may have been the Civil Justice Council’s (CJC’s) recent recommendation in its ‘Improved Access to Justice’ report that third-party funding should be encouraged. Is third-party funding set to become an influential factor in the litigation arena?
