15 years of legal finance: What the numbers show

Growth

Burford launched in 2009 as a $130 million fund; today, Burford has a portfolio of more than $7 billion. According to league tables, we are multiples bigger than our next direct competitor. Our commitments have also expanded greatly, from $11 million in commitments to legal finance assets in 2009 to $1.2 billion in commitments on a Group-wide basis in 2023.

More sophisticated legal finance products

Financing fees and expenses was synonymous with “litigation funding” when Burford began. But over the course of our 15 years in business, in addition to updating our terminology to reflect the broader solution set we offer the business of law, we’ve also, more importantly, evolved that solution set to better meet clients’ needs.

For example, in 2010, we pioneered financing litigation and arbitration on a portfolio basis — enabling law firms and legal teams to unlock significant capital and fund a variety of legal and business needs. In 2014, we pioneered monetization financing, which enables clients to accelerate and de-risk an expected entitlement rather than waiting for matters to resolve. Monetization has become increasingly popular, particularly among corporate clients who know they can achieve much better outcomes by investing their capital in revenue-generating activities now, rather than waiting for an uncertain outcome.

Increased use by corporate clients

Over the past 15 years, as awareness of legal finance has grown, the users of legal finance have also evolved. Whereas much of the demand for legal finance formerly came through law firms, currently, more than half of Burford’s business now comes from corporate clients, many of whom represent very large businesses.

Fueling this growth in use of legal finance by corporates are some of the same calculations that drive use of corporate finance generally. As a partner at a litigation boutique told a researcher in 2024, “Litigation is a bottom-line cost. If corporations can spread that risk by sharing it with an outside capital provider, CFOs want to explore that option, especially because corporations hate litigation expenses. They are much more open to it if they can get some or all of it covered by legal finance.” A partner at an AmLaw 200 law firm told the same researcher, “The more recent trend is that law departments with a P&L can pay for [litigation] themselves but choose to use financing to avoid any P&L hit.” 

Dramatic rise in awareness

Understandably, awareness of legal finance was limited in the years just after Burford’s launch. In an effort to build understanding of legal finance among in-house and law firm lawyers, Burford has invested since 2012 in regular research to gauge perception and use. As a result, we can track the dramatic rise in awareness that has transpired.

A partner at a global litigation firm put it well, telling a researcher in 2024, “[Legal finance] has become more widespread. Fifteen years ago, it was considered an option for insolvent or undercapitalized companies. More companies are considering it now, even when they can afford litigation.” Another partner at a litigation boutique commented, “Now, funders are indispensable to litigation.”

Even keeping in mind that some surveys may overstate actual use of legal finance due to confirmation bias (i.e., lawyers now perceive legal finance as something that they should be using), research clearly indicates a significant upward trajectory in use of legal finance. Whereas just 9% of all respondents and 2% of in-house lawyers said they had used “litigation funding” in 2012, in 2024, 82% claimed to have used legal finance.

A bright future

Even after a significant uptick in use of legal finance in the last 15 years, 2024 research supports still further growth. For example, 88% of law firm lawyers believe that a broader set of users, such as more corporate clients, will employ legal finance to tackle a wider array of challenges over the next 15 years.

Burford’s team stands ready to help. We began with just five employees in 2009, and we’re now more than 150 professionals located in seven countries and working with clients all around the world.

Sources:

• 2012 Litigation Financing Survey
• 2016 Litigation Finance Survey
• 2024 Litigation Economics
• Legal finance at 15: Global law firm professionals on the state of the industry
• Burford Capital marks 15-year anniversary with business data and new legal finance research (press release, October 1, 2024)