The Price of Access to the Civil Courts in Australia: Old Problems and New Solutions - A Commercial Litigation Funding Case Study

Authors

Camille Cameron, Dalhousie University Schulich School of LawFollow

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2011

Keywords

Commercial Litigation, Litigation Funding, Class Actions, Australia, Civil Procedure

Abstract

In the past decade litigation funding companies have assumed an increasingly prominent role in commercial litigation and class actions in Australia. The growth of commercial litigation funding is a predictable response to various features of Australia’s costs and fee allocation rules and practices, including the “loser pays” rule, the prohibition on lawyer’s charging contingency fees, the hourly billing practices of lawyers, and the open-ended and unpredictable nature of much civil litigation. This chapter explores the growth of commercial litigation funding in Australia and uses it as a window through which to view how Australia’s costs and fee allocation rules operate and interact.

Recommended Citation

Camille Cameron, "The Price of Access to the Civil Courts in Australia: Old Problems and New Solutions - A Commercial Litigation Funding Case Study" in Matthias Reimann, ed, Cost and Fee Allocation in Civil Procedure (New York: Springer Dordrecht, 2012) 59.