A portfolio litigation funding arrangement enables multiple cases to be funded under a single facility through a streamlined process and on agreed terms. When reading the press or listening to funding focused panels during this year’s conference season, it might seem like portfolio litigation funding arrangements are the new norm. Whilst this may one day be the case for certain types of law firm, in my experience, it is not so in the here and now.
In judgments on consecutive days in October 2018, two High Court judges have made it clear that they will not, without sanction, see their courtroom used for purposes other than the proper adjudication of genuine disputes.
Two of this year’s cases to watch, Hellas (in Liquidation) v Apax Partners and Robert Tchenguiz v Grant Thornton and others (unreported) (in relation to the latter, where the author acted for various of the defendants), have both, coincidentally, been discontinued by the claimants on day four of what were set to be lengthy trials (six weeks and 12 weeks respectively). Continue reading
We are soon to have a new international regime for the enforcement of mediated settlement agreements, which it is hoped will achieve for mediation what the New York Convention has for international arbitration.
The UN Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation was finally approved in June 2018 by UNCITRAL (the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law). To be known as the Singapore Convention, it is the culmination of nearly four years of negotiations within a UNCITRAL working group, involving representatives from over 85 States and 35 NGOs. It is accompanied by a corresponding Model Law (which replaces the existing Model Law on Conciliation).