In a recent Law Gazette feature on legal finance, Burford MD Craig Arnott spoke on the growth of the category in Asia:
“Both Hong Kong and Singapore had previously prohibited litigation finance, but following significant education and lobbying – including by Burford – both jurisdictions passed legislation in 2017 opening the door to finance for arbitration. The amendment to the legislation reflects a growing demand for litigation and arbitration finance in Asia.” Arnott also commented on the growth in GC demand for legal finance: “We expect there to be a growth in corporate interest in funding, as GCs continue to proactively embrace litigation finance as a go-to tool to manage risk and cost, as well as to reduce the uncertainty around litigation budgets. We expect a number of corporates to look to the use of portfolio-based litigation finance, to not only provide an assurance about the reliability of capital sources, but also to be offered better terms.”