Burford pointed out that international investors are losing confidence in UK, Deminor has completed a €100 million funding, LLS backs discrimination claim against State of Queensland

News and Conference Information

  • In a recent statement, Burford Capital CEO Chris Bogart pointed out that the UK government s failure to promptly address the legal uncertainty triggered by the PACCAR ruling has led to a downturn in the litigation funding market. As a result, international investors are losing confidence in choosing London as an arbitral seat and in using English law, causing capital to flow out of the UK market. Bogart stated that Burford no longer designates London as the arbitral seat in its international financing agreements, instead opting for jurisdictions such as Singapore, Paris, or New York. He remarked, The PACCAR ruling and the governments silence have created uncertainty in the market, which has reduced investor capital allocation to the UK. Bogart argued that the UK does not need to establish a complex regulatory regime, as there is already a regulator in every case -- the judge. He expressed hope that the Civil Justice Council' s (CJC) ongoing review would focus on restoring stability and predictability to the market, rather than advancing unnecessary regulatory burdens.
  • Deminor has successfully completed a 100 million funding round to expand its litigation funding activities across Continental Europe, the UK, and Asia. Investors include Contingency Capital, finance & invest.brussels (supported by the Brussels regional government), Stalusa, Saffelberg Investments, and Deminor s management team. The firm also achieved B Corporation (B Corp) certification, becoming the first litigation funder outside the US to do so -- reflecting its commitment to social responsibility, transparency, and environmental standards. Deminor currently funds 47 active cases across 23 jurisdictions, with a 78.8% success rate in concluded cases. Its portfolio now includes antitrust, consumer collective actions, and commercial arbitration.
  • Litigation Lending Services is funding a class action filed by JGA Saddler on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples against the State of Queensland. The lawsuit alleges that, for nearly 30 years, the State -- through the North West and Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Services -- has engaged in systemic discrimination, failing to provide Indigenous communities with equitable access to healthcare as required by law, in breach of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. According to the claim, these communities have long been subjected to inadequate medical assessment and intervention, the substitution of low-level pain relief for necessary treatments, racial bias, and unsafe or unsupportive healthcare environments. The conduct is alleged to have caused serious harm to the health, dignity, and human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients.
  • In the Mastercard collective action, litigation funder Innsworth strongly opposed the Competition Appeal Tribunal s (CAT) decision to award it a profit of only £23 million, calling the figure unreasonable. Innsworth had invested approximately £46 million over seven years in the case, which originally sought damages of up to £14 billion. Innsworth s managing director, Ian Garrard, criticized the profit allocation as insufficient to encourage future funding of class actions and stated that the company is considering further legal action. He accused class representative Walter Merricks of continuing to publicly claim a £10 billion valuation for the case even after the key causation ruling setback in February 2024, and of ultimately abandoning over 90% of the core claim related to UK domestic transactions. Garrard emphasized that Innsworth had offered additional funding to pursue the case further, believing a better outcome could have been achieved. Merricks, in turn, accused Innsworth of attempting to exert personal pressure on him and called on the Association of Litigation Funders (ALF) to investigate Innsworth s conduct. ALF responded by describing Merricks s allegations as misleading, stating it had proactively invited him to submit a formal complaint, which he has yet to do. 
  • AI-powered litigation prediction platform Theo Ai has announced the completion of a $4.2 million seed funding round. The round was co-led by NextView Ventures and Collide Capital, with the latter s founder, Aaron Samuels, joining the company s board. The funds will be used to expand proprietary data pipelines, enhance the legal corpus, and strengthen supervised learning with legal experts. Theo Ai is designed for major law firms and corporate legal teams, using historical case data and proprietary insights to improve the accuracy of settlement predictions. Initially serving litigation funders, the company has since expanded its services to law firms and in-house legal departments.

 

[Reference]

[1]https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/fewer-dollars-for-uk-economy-as-top-lit-funder-spurns-english-law/5123346.article

[2]https://www.deminor.com/en/news-insights/deminor-raises-eur-100-million-to-support-global-growth-and-expands-commitment-to-social-responsibility-by-becoming-b-corp-certified

[3]https://litigationfinanceinsider.com/p/litigation-lending-services-backs-discrimination-claim-against-state-of-queensland-d2aa4bba6747347c
[4]https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/merricks-funder-23m-profit-on-46m-investment-not-reasonable

[5]https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/theo-ai-secures-4-2mm-seed-round-to-advance-ai-powered-settlement-prediction-for-big-law-302458280.html

 

 

Created on:2025-06-03 14:05