The litigation funding market and its 2035 projections.

The global litigation funding market is estimated at around $11bn in 2018 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 figures are often repeated as they stand. They deserve a careful reading.

The market’s trajectory.

According to these estimates, the market almost doubled between 2018 and 2024. The 2035 projections extend that trend, with annual growth of 8 to 14% depending on the method.

What the studies measure.

The studies do not all measure the same thing. Depending on their method, some count the capital committed in the year, others the assets managed, others still the value of the disputes funded. They also differ in the geography they cover and in the weight they give each region.

The $51bn to $65bn range is therefore not a forecast in the strict sense. It gives an order of magnitude, drawn from different methods. A market projection guarantees neither the growth nor the result of a portfolio.

Europe’s share.

For a European player, another figure matters more. According to a 2021 European Parliament study, the European legal market is worth around €125bn, of which litigation funding captures only 0.8%.

The projected global growth therefore does not assume a break in Europe. It assumes that Europe closes part of the gap with the countries where the practice is older.

Growth drivers in Europe.

A legal framework.

In France, article 16 of the law of 30 April 2025 recognised litigation funding as part of the reform of class actions. Decree no. 2025-1191 of 10 December 2025 details how it applies. We analyse this framework and the class action reform in two articles.

The cost of justice.

Asserting a serious claim costs €30,000 to more than €300,000 in fees and costs, over two to four years of proceedings, sometimes longer. According to the French Ministry of Justice, 52% of French people consider legal costs too high (2024). As long as that cost remains, individuals and businesses decide not to act.

Investor interest.

The outcome of a case depends on the evidence, the law and the defendant’s solvency, not on the stock market. That guarantees nothing, since a case can be lost. We look at this independence and its limits in our article on decorrelation.

Detection through data.

France has been putting its court decisions online since 2021, in stages. This publication makes it possible to spot serial litigation from the decisions themselves. We explain this in our article on court decision open data.

What listed funders show.

Burford Capital reports a multiple of 1.8 and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 25% on its cases concluded since 2009, as at 31 March 2026. Omni Bridgeway reports a cumulative multiple of 2.4. In France, managers such as IVO Capital Partners also invest in this asset class. These are third‑party figures, unrelated to the performance of Hello Justice Capital 1. We explain how to read them.

How Hello Justice uses these figures.

Hello Justice uses this data to place the market in context. It says nothing about the result of a portfolio. That result depends on case selection, with each case analysed by specialised partner lawyers. It also depends on spreading the portfolio across disputes with different legal bases and on following each case through to its outcome.

How the portfolio is built is described in the documentation of the Hello Justice Capital 1 fund, provided after the investor’s eligibility has been checked.