Litigation funding in France in 2026.

Litigation funding lets a claimant go to court without paying the lawyer’s fees up front. A third party, the funder, pays them while the case runs. The funder is paid out of the sums recovered, and only if the case is won. If the case is lost, the client repays nothing.

The mechanism answers a problem of cost. Civil or commercial proceedings in France commonly absorb €30,000 to more than €300,000 in fees and costs, over two to four years, sometimes longer. According to the French Ministry of Justice, 52% of French people consider legal costs too high (2024).

How it works.

Funding rests on an agreement signed by three parties: the client, their lawyer and the funder. It sets the fees the funder pays to the lawyer. It also sets the share of any recovery that goes to the funder if the case succeeds.

The client keeps ownership of the claim and remains a party to the case. The lawyer runs the proceedings and stays bound by professional secrecy. The funder does not decide the strategy.

If the case is lost, the funder loses what it has committed. It has no claim against the client, which is what “non‑recourse” means. This is what separates funding from a loan.

The legal framework in France.

Before 2025.

Until 2025, no statute addressed litigation funding, and French law did not prohibit it. On 1 June 2006, the Versailles Court of Appeal described it as a sui generis contract, meaning a contract of its own kind. Funding agreements were governed by ordinary contract law (articles 1101 et seq. of the French Civil Code).

The law of 30 April 2025.

Law no. 2025-391 of 30 April 2025 adapts French law to several European texts. Its article 16 transposes Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of 25 November 2020 on representative actions and reforms French class actions. For the first time in a French statute, it recognises the funding of proceedings by a third party.

That funding is regulated within class actions. It must give the funder no influence against the interests of the people represented, either over bringing the action or over conducting it. The association or entity bringing the action must also disclose its funding.

Implementing decrees followed. Decree no. 2025-653 of 16 July 2025 designates the eight courts with jurisdiction: the tribunaux judiciaires of Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nancy, Paris, Rennes and Fort‑de‑France. Decree no. 2025-734 of 30 July 2025 sets the procedure and creates a public register of class actions. Decree no. 2025-1191 of 10 December 2025 details the disclosure rules on funding and the approval procedure for the entities that bring actions. It has applied since 1 January 2026.

Class actions open to every area of law.

The reform replaces the separate regimes for consumer law, health, the environment, personal data and discrimination with a single framework. Every type of loss can be compensated, whether economic, material, bodily or moral, whatever the area of law. We explain the regime in our article on class actions.

A class action is a specific legal procedure in which an association or entity acts on behalf of a group. Hello Justice also funds individual cases handled as a series, such as those of the Swiss franc loan programme. Each client keeps their own file, lawyer and agreement.

Funding with Hello Justice, step by step.

The eligibility test, free.

A few questions about the dispute, the amount at stake and the other side give a first indication. The test result is not a decision.

Filing the case, free.

You send the account of the dispute and your documents. A specialised partner lawyer then analyses the case’s eligibility. The review covers the characteristics of the dispute, limitation (the time limit for bringing a claim), the completeness of the documents and the reasonable chances of success. Not every case is accepted.

The case analysis, €1,500 excluding VAT.

If you apply for funding, Hello Justice analyses the case in depth: the amount at stake, the cost and length of the proceedings, the solvency of the other side. This analysis costs €1,500 excluding VAT (€1,800 including VAT). You receive a written report and a funding opinion, favourable or unfavourable. The fee pays for the analysis work and is due whatever the opinion. It does not apply to the Swiss franc loan programme.

The agreement.

If the opinion is favourable, you sign a fee agreement with your lawyer and Hello Justice. It sets your lawyer’s fees, which Hello Justice pays. It also sets Hello Justice’s commission, from 14 to 30% including VAT of the sums recovered, depending on the type of case. The rate is written down before any commitment.

The proceedings and their outcome.

Your lawyer runs the case, and you follow its progress in your online space. If the case succeeds, the commission is taken from the sums recovered. If it fails, you repay nothing to Hello Justice. The procedural indemnity a judge may award (article 700 of the French Code of Civil Procedure) is dealt with in the agreement.

The disputes concerned.

Hello Justice reviews civil and commercial disputes with at least €100,000 at stake, against an opponent able to pay a judgment. Its activity centres on disputes worth €100,000 to €1m. Cases filed with us come, for example, from the following areas.

• Banking and finance, including Swiss franc loans.
• Commercial law, for a breach of contract, the abrupt termination of an established relationship (article L. 442-1 of the French Commercial Code) or unfair competition.
• Consumer law, for unfair terms or hidden defects.
• Intellectual property, for patent or trademark infringement.
• Construction, for defective work or the ten‑year builder’s warranty.
• Company law, for an asset and liability warranty, a shareholder dispute or a director’s liability.
• Insurance, when a claim is refused.
• Arbitration, domestic or international.

The market.

The global litigation funding market is estimated at around $11bn in 2018 (Facts & Factors, McKinsey) and $19bn in 2024. Studies by SNS Insider, Research Nester and Market Research Future project it at $51bn to $65bn by 2035, an annual growth rate of 8 to 14%. These projections guarantee nothing. In Europe, litigation funding captures about 0.8% of a €125bn legal market (European Parliament, 2021).

Burford Capital and Omni Bridgeway, two listed funders, publish their results. Burford, founded in 2009, is listed in New York and London. It reports a multiple of 1.8 and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 25% on cases concluded since 2009, as at 31 March 2026. A multiple of 1.8 means each dollar committed returned $1.80, capital included. Omni Bridgeway, listed in Australia and present in 15 countries, reports a cumulative multiple of 2.4. These are third‑party figures and promise no return elsewhere. We explain how to read them.

In France, legal recognition dates from 2025. Hello Justice’s Swiss franc loan programme covers loans taken out between 2002 and 2015. We estimate the number of eligible cases at around 50,000.

To find out whether your dispute fits what we fund, start with the eligibility test. The mechanism is set out on the how it works page, and the legal terms in the glossary.