A major tool in the arsenal of clients and lawyers

Lacking the financial means to commence or pursue or defend litigation, arbitration or winding up claims is one common concern for the parties in a dispute.
To this end, our Firm cooperates with leading global litigation funders and we propose to our clients legal finance to commence or keep a litigation, arbitration or insolvency procedure on track in Cyprus. In its simplest form, litigation finance involves a specialist funder financing some or all (typically) a claimant’s legal fees incurred in a dispute, in exchange for a share of the damages. If the case is successful, the funder will recover their investment plus a success fee. If the case is unsuccessful, the funder will lose its investment.

Clients interested in litigation funding range from foreign entities or entrepreneurs lacking liquidity to support their valid claims in Cyprus, liquidators aiming to file claims, in house legal departments and even clients that can afford litigation but prefer to receive finance for it in order to invest their liquidity elsewhere.

Are there any concerns, from a Cyprus law perspective?

Firstly, Champerty, an ancient rule stating that helping someone else maintain a lawsuit, generally by providing financial assistance, for profit is prohibited. Today, Champerty is considered obsolete and many jurisdictions and bar associations around the world have suggested that litigation finance is an ethically robust business that increases, rather than decreases, access to justice. Although Cyprus has not proceeded with a legislative revision, we consider that Chamberty is not applicable to litigation funding as we propose it.

Secondly, using litigation funding does not involve loss of control for the Client or the lawyer, as no assignment of tort is made, and the funding is passive in character.

Litigation funding provides a cost-effective financing tool for claimants, and we consider it to be our obligation to explain its existence and function to our clients so that they can take it into consideration when planning the funding of a litigation or arbitration case or dispute.
Litigation Funding

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