Historically, parties with good claims but without the financial strength to pursue them have turned to funders like Woodsford.
Increasingly, we find that businesses with the means to pursue claims are turning to us to reduce the risk involved inherent in any claim, mitigate the detrimental effect of lengthy claims on cash flow and to remove litigation costs from the balance sheet.
We provide a range of funding solutions that remove some or all of the financial risk associated with litigation and arbitration.
We know that pursuing a claim can be a daunting, expensive and lengthy process. Delivering justice for claimants requires strength, resolve, expertise and a detailed understanding of risk.
Our combination of legal and financial expertise, combined with sizeable, secure capital funds (we invest our own money), means we can move quickly to deliver tailored funding solutions that remove some or all of the financial risk associated with litigation or arbitration.
What are litigation and arbitration funding?
Litigation and arbitration funding are ways of redressing the balance of legal claims. Until recently, well-funded defendants were frequently able to outspend their opponents and make the pursuit of justice difficult, risky and, in some cases, impossible. This often meant justice was not pursued, even when a business had an excellent claim.
Funding from Woodsford can bear as much of the cost and risk involved in pursuing justice as you need, enabling sound actions to go ahead when they might otherwise stall.
We can finance some or all of the fees incurred by the claimant’s lawyers. While we do not require that claimant lawyers act on a conditional or contingency fee basis, a lawyer’s willingness to take some risk in the outcome of a case weighs heavily in our decision making.
We can also fund disbursements; these may include costs relating to e-disclosure, expert witnesses, and court or tribunal fees.
Woodsford can finance disbursements in addition to lawyers’ fees, or we can fund only disbursements. It is common, for example, for claimant law firms to work on a 100% conditional or contingent fee basis (i.e. where all of their fees are deferred, payable upon success), in which case the claimant requires only finance for disbursements.
What are the benefits of Litigation Funding?
Clearly, funding provides the necessary capital for large commercial claims to be pursued that otherwise would not, due to either the claimants’ lack of funds or appetite for risk. But Litigation Funding has three other key benefits; it enables a party to hire the best lawyers and experts, receive the benefit of a second set of seasoned eyes, and can significantly improve settlement dynamics.
With funding, parties have enough capital in hand to litigate an issue to conclusion with the best professionals and experts. Litigation funding also functions as a no-cost means of evaluating a party’s claims. Before committing to funding a case or litigation strategy on a non-recourse basis, Woodsford conducts comprehensive underwriting and diligence review.
Woodsford’s in-house underwriters have experience advising clients on litigation strategy and apply this expertise in evaluating the evidentiary and legal strengths of the claim, the financial merits, and the anticipated outcome of various stages of the litigation. This additional review and analysis can greatly improve the overall strategy for parties seeking to vindicate rights and maximize value in court.
And the knowledge that the claimant is fully resourced by an independent, dispassionate and highly selective third-party, sends a clear and powerful message to any defendant. This allows parties to credibly present the strength of their position and their willingness to vigorously pursue their rights in settlement negotiations, in turn facilitating a larger recovery.
What’s in it for Woodsford?
In return for taking on significant financial risk, including adverse-cost risk where relevant, Woodsford receives a pre-negotiated percentage of the damages recovered or a multiple of the costs funded – assuming the case is won. Funding is non-recourse, meaning that if the proceedings fail, we receive nothing and may, as noted above, face liability for the other side’s costs.
Why partner with Woodsford?
Woodsford has a successful twelve-year track record of providing funding solutions for many high value claims.
These funding solutions are the result of our team’s extensive, direct experience of complex disputes, and our understanding of the unique and complex challenges involved in every case. In some instances, we have funded cases which other funders refused to support due to their complex international characteristics.
Our proven expertise, combined with our own capital funding, allows us to move quickly to provide clients with highly flexible, innovative funding solutions. We provide funding on a non-recourse basis and can work with single or portfolios of cases, ensuring the best financial arrangement for both law firms and claimants in each instance.
Woodsford is a founder member of both the International Legal Finance Association and the Association of Litigation Funders.
The types of claims we fund
Investing our own capital gives us the flexibility to invest in all types of claims. There are a number of key claim types that we focus on:
How do you secure funding for your claim or your portfolio of claims?
Litigation funders such as Woodsford, only fund a small percentage of the opportunities they review – as you can imagine, for us to get comfortable with a 6 or 7 figure investment on a non-recourse basis we need to be confident of a successful recovery. There are 6 key factors that we look at when deciding whether to invest in a claim:
For a more detailed look at the litigation funding process, read out whitepaper, A Practical Guide to Litigation Funding.
Tailored funding solutions
As every claim is unique, it is essential that finance solutions can be tailored to best meet the needs of the stakeholders involved. Funding must work to protect claimants from the risk of escalating costs or adverse results – and must ultimately facilitate the smoothest pursuit of justice.
For more information or to discuss a claim that needs funding, please contact Clare Owen.