George Mason University

Third-Party Financing of Litigation: Civil Justice Friend or Foe?

The Searle Civil Justice Institute (SCJI) at George Mason University’s Law & Economics Center hosted a global conference on Third-Party Financing of Litigation at the New York Athletic Club on Wednesday, October 5 and Thursday, October 6, 2011.

Please click here to read a summary of this conference.

OVERVIEW:

The conference featured he work product of SCJI’s public policy initiative entitled Third-Party Financing of Litigation: Civil Justice Friend or Foe? SCJI has commissioned ten papers by leading international scholars to evaluate the legal and economic issues likely to arise with the expansion of third-party financing of litigation. Particular attention was paid to the potential impact of third-party financing on economic growth and free enterprise systems throughout the world.

In addition to the participating scholars, the conference featured legal practitioners, financiers, and others with an interest in third-party financing of litigation. By bringing together a group of leading scholars and front-line practitioners, we had an informative and balanced discussion of third-party financing and potential policy concerns.

Please click here to view the agenda.

PARTICIPATING SCHOLARS:
Participating scholars for this conference included:

• Cento Veljanovski, Managing Partner, Case Associates, London; IEA Fellow in Law and Economics; Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Regulatory & Market Analysis, University of South Australia
  • Third Party Litigation Funding in Europe

• George Barker, Director, Centre for Law and Economics, The Australian National University
  • Third Party Funding in Australia and Europe

• Alexander Bruns, Director of the Institute for German and Foreign Civil Procedural Law, Freiburg University
  • Third Party Financing in the Perspective of German Law — Useful Instrument for Improvement of the Civil Justice System or “Speculative Immoral Investment?”

• Ianika Tzankova, Professor of Comparative Mass Litigation, Tilburg Law School
  • Cost and Funding of Mass Disputes: Case Study the Netherlands

• Joanna Shepherd Bailey, Associate Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
  • Ideal Versus Reality in Third-Party Litigation Financing

• Jeremy Kidd, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law
  • To Fund or Not to Fund: The Need for Second-Best Solutions to the Litigation Finance Dilemma

• Geoffrey J. Lysaught, Deputy Executive Director, Law & Economics Center
  • Economic Implications of Third-­Party Litigation Financing on the U.S. Civil Justice System

• Michelle Boardman, Assistant Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law
  • Insurers Defend and Third-­‐Parties Fund: A Comparison of Litigation Participation

• Keith N. Hylton, The Honorable Paul J. Liacos Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
  • The Economics of Third-Party Financed Litigation

• Jef De Mot, Professor of Law, Center for Advanced Studies in Law and Economics at Ghent University
  • Comparing Third-Party Financing of Litigation and Legal Expenses Insurance

CONFERENCE HOTEL:
New York Athletic Club
180 Central Park South
New York, NY 10019

These are the final drafts awaiting publication in Spring 2012. The papers will all be published as part of a dedicated symposium edition in the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy.