The third-party funding market has seen exponential growth since its inception but 2016 has proven to be one of the most significant yet, with at least 10 new active funders adding to the existing pool of mainstream funders.
Earlier this month, in the case of Essar Oilfields Services v Norscot Rig Management [2016], the tribunal took the unprecedented step of allowing the claimant to recover the cost of its third-party funding arrangement from the opponent. The funding arrangement for Essar was brokered by one of the author’s colleagues at TheJudge, who incidentally was also called upon to give evidence as to the reasonableness of the funding deal. Needless to say, the funding arrangement followed a market tender, which goes some way to justifying the reasonableness.
