June 18, 2018
Despite the Constitution’s promise of access to our court system, the U.S. ranks poorly for affordability and accessibility of civil justice on a global scale — 95 out of 113 countries ranked. While the best law firms struggle with profitability, companies spend billions of dollars yearly on litigation, eating into their own revenue streams and discouraging them from pursuing fair outcomes in business disputes.
Our civil system privileges companies with deep pockets, and the cost
of taking a lawsuit to its appropriate conclusion can be prohibitively high for many businesses. Companies and their legal counsel often must sacrifice strong plaintiff cases in order to preserve limited resources and working capital.
We think the result is a broken legal system.
Litigation finance emerged in the United States two decades ago as a market solution that provides working capital, spreads risk more evenly and increases access to the courts. Commercial litigation funders provide clients and law firms with the financial resources necess
ary to keep their businesses operating smoothly during lengthy legal battles, such as in breach of contract, theft of trade secrets, arbitrations and fraud. That critical funding also enables plaintiffs to hire the best lawyers to take meritorious cases all the way to trial or settlement.
Spreading risk more widely positively alters companies’ risk tolerances, encouraging them to vigorously pursue their rightful judgment in meritorious cases that they otherwise may have been more likely to settle.
Every company has the right to a fair fight in court. Access to the court system should not be dependent on a company’s financial resources. Litigation funding remedies that imbalance, ensuring that cases are resolved on their merits, rather than determined by which party has deeper pockets.
We believe this creates a fairer playing field for all parties and makes our system of justice more efficient.