Membership

ELFA anticipates that with the continued growth of the industry, more companies will join the association. Membership criteria for companies interested in applying to ELFA:

• Adequate in-house legal expertise relevant to the European continent. This means at least Civil law expertise with members’ investment leadership.
• Membership is exclusive for funders with capital to directly invest (not brokers), although if and when the existing members so decide, in due course admission of other parties with affiliated interests (brokers or other service providers) to special membership is not excluded.
• The association will not be open to consumer litigation finance companies. Commercial legal finance and consumer legal finance are two entirely separate industries that serve very different constituencies.
• Membership application shall require:
• • a demonstration that the accounts of the candidate are audited by qualified chartered accountants.
  • a demonstration of capital adequacy to meet all reasonable requirements to adequately protect the client’s interests also in adverse scenarios.
  • in principle and dependent on the relevant investment criteria and market focus of the candidate member, an amount of at least
    Euro 5 million to invest is required.
• Material (meaningful) dedicated local continental European presence. This means a relevant physical presence on the European continent with Civil law expertise on board.