Industry leaders launch ELFA to represent the commercial legal finance industry in the EU
Deminor, Nivalion and Omni Bridgeway launch ELFA to represent the commercial litigation funding industry in the EU.
BRUSSELS, 30 June 2022: The European Litigation Funders Association (ELFA) has been established to serve as the European voice of the commercial litigation funding industry. With a focus on the EU, ELFA’s objective is to represent the industry’s interests to EU clients, governmental bodies, international organisations and professional associations, and to set and promote good standards of practice throughout the industry.
ELFA has been founded by three leading litigation funders with a European footprint: Deminor, Nivalion AG and Omni Bridgeway Limited. ELFA’s current directors are Charles Demoulin (Chief Investment Officer, Deminor); Marcel Wegmüller (Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Nivalion AG); and Wieger Wielinga (Managing Director EMEA, Omni Bridgeway), who will serve as ELFA’s inaugural Chairman. The association welcomes all professional litigation funders, large and small.
“ELFA’s membership will comprise professional funders who are active and present in the EU, and is intended to include both large, established funders and small, emerging funders,” said Wielinga. “My co-founders and I saw a clear need for this level of inclusivity and concentration on the EU. What not everyone knows is that the cradle of the legal finance industry lies here in the EU, where it was created more than 30 years ago. The establishment of ELFA is a natural next step in our industry’s progression. We are already in discussions with a number of interested funders who are enthusiastic about joining ELFA.”
The association invites applications from prospective members who meet its membership criteria and adhere to its Code of Conduct, which is central to ELFA’s mandate. The code establishes and promotes high industry standards, general principles and best practices in the interests of clients, to ensure that litigation funders follow the same institutional standards and processes that clients expect of their other finance partners.
Demoulin said: “The establishment of ELFA underscores the industry’s maturation within the financial services community, and is indicative of the growing need for dispute funding solutions. Fundamentally, legal financing supports the rule of law. For companies, organisations or individuals with limited resources, litigation funding facilitates access to justice by ensuring that disputes are resolved on their merits, not on who has the bigger legal budget. Litigation funding helps to restore the balance.”
Typically, a commercial legal finance provider will pay the fees and expenses associated with pursuing a claim, or advance a portion of the value of the pending claim, in exchange for a share of any judgment or award recovered if the matter is successful.
Wegmüller said: “Expanding the understanding of our industry, the role we play in legal and financial contexts and the value we provide to clients is one cornerstone of ELFA’s purpose. ELFA aims to be the primary and trusted resource in the EU for information, research, commentary and enquiries concerning dispute funding and commercial legal finance.”
The growth of legal finance globally has seen the emergence of associations representing other regions and industry participants. The International Legal Finance Association (ILFA) represents the largest funders with international footprints and operations, and the Association of Litigation Funders (ALF) represents funders active in England and Wales.
“With the legal finance industry having originated in the EU in the late 1980s and growing exponentially, particularly in recent years, it is time to organise our collective voice to ensure and promote our sector’s continued transparency, sound principles and intelligent consideration in the EU’s legal forums and financial markets,” Wielinga concluded. “We are convinced that litigation funding can contribute something valuable to the legal ecosystem.”