Growth in Litigation Funding The big question in 2018 for the U.S. litigation finance industry is: Just how big can it get? Both domestic and United Kingdom-based outfits have positioned themselves for a busy year ahead, plucking away new hires from Big Law and signing on high-profile ex-judges as advisers. As funding deals become more commonplace, the courts will increasingly have to wrestle with questions of transparency and who is in control. Credit: Sebra/Shutterstock.com

A push to reveal litigation funding has spread to the U.S. Senate, where new legislation has drawn a mixture of praise and criticism from plaintiff and defense attorneys.

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, along with Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, introduced the Litigation Funding Transparency Act of 2018 on May 10. The bill would require disclosure of third-party litigation funding in class actions and multidistrict litigation within 10 days of a case filing, or 10 days after a funding deal. It would also require disclosure of financing that provides cash to plaintiffs.

It's more expansive than a bill passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives last year calling for disclosures only in class actions, and more limiting than legislation enacted in Wisconsin requiring disclosure of third-party financing in all types of state court cases there.