The consultation phase of the CJC’s review of the litigation funding sector in England & Wales, including options about how it should be regulated in the future, was initially due to end on 31 January. Our article following the start of the consultation outlines the review and provides links to the interim report/consultation paper.

It should be noted that the response period has recently been extended and, separately from the review, appeals on enforceability of litigation funding agreements are once again moving forward. We envisage that those leading the review will be following these cases closely. 

The points below summarise these recent developments as well as what is known about the timing of the next steps in the review. We have already submitted a response to the CJC and may provide a supplementary paper should there be further significant developments in affecting the sector before the end of February.

If you would like to discuss our response and/or any of the matters below, please contact Alistair Kinley, Ben Knowles or Paul Wainwright.

1. Consultation deadline extended to 3 March 2025. This new date for responding to the CJC’s interim report/consultation paper is an extension of a few weeks from the previous deadline.
2. An evidence-based review. It is worth re-stating that when opening the consultation in October, the CJC said that its “Working Group is not making any recommendations at this stage”, which we interpret to mean that it has no pre-conceived ideas about the conclusions that the review might reach. The final report is therefore very likely to be based on the evidence the Group receives during the current consultation phase and on engagement with stakeholders thereafter.
3. No delay to overall timetable for the final report. It has been confirmed the extended deadline “will not adversely affect the finalisation of the full report”. We therefore still expect the final, post-consultation report and its recommendations to the Ministry of Justice (although it could also make proposals that the Civil Procedure Rule Committee and relevant current regulators could take forward) to be completed in the third quarter of the year. 
4. Not clear how or when the government will ultimately respond. The timing of the Ministry’s response to the CJC’s final report is not clear. If the final report is released in the middle of the third quarter of the year, it might be possible for the Ministry to respond by the year end. Even if it does, we would not expect the implementation of any recommendations adopted by government to happen earlier than the middle of 2026. The timescale would, however, be likely to stretch further into the future if a legislative solution for the regulation of litigation funding was to be taken forward.
5. Revival of enforceability appeals. In the meantime, it has recently been reported that stays in a number of appeals* dealing with the enforceability of litigation funding agreements featuring returns based on multiples of sums invested were lifted on 4 February. It may be that some of these cases could be determined by the Court of Appeal before the final report is issued. 

*Arising from collective proceedings before the Competition Appeal Tribunal and which the Law Society Gazette reports as including: Alex Neill v Sony Interactive Entertainment, Apple Inc. & Apple Distribution International Ltd v Kent, Commercial and Interregional Card Claims v Mastercard, and Gutmann v Apple.

Post script, 14 February 2025. The CJC Working Group has advised it is holding a consultation event on Wednesday 26 February 2025 from 2-5PM. We understand that the event will be livestreamed on YouTube. You can register to attend online by following this link.