The vocabulary of litigation funding.

An investment whose outcome does not depend primarily on equity or bond markets. Litigation funding is one: the funder pays the lawyer’s fees of a case and is paid out of the sums recovered, only in the event of success. The outcome depends on the evidence, the law, the opposing party’s solvency and the length of the proceedings. That guarantees nothing: a case can be lost, and the capital invested can be lost, in part or in full.

The alternative investment

The amount claimed or reasonably recoverable in a dispute. It is measured from the compensable loss, the evidence and the applicable assessment rules. The amount at stake is compared with the foreseeable cost and duration of the proceedings to assess whether funding makes sense.

File a case

The price of Hello Justice’s analysis of a case, outside the Swiss‑franc loan programme: €1,500 excluding VAT, that is €1,800 including VAT. The analysis leads to a written report and a funding opinion, favourable or unfavourable. The fee pays for the analysis work: it is due whatever the opinion. The eligibility test and submitting the case are free.

What you pay

A report written by Hello Justice at the end of a case analysis: the amount at stake, the ratio between the cost of the proceedings and that amount, the likely duration, the other side’s solvency, the prospects of recovery. On the law, it relies on the specialised partner lawyer’s analysis. It ends with a funding opinion, favourable or unfavourable, given to the client.

Our method

A dispute resolution method by which the parties entrust their dispute to one or more arbitrators under an arbitration clause or agreement. The award binds the parties and becomes enforceable after exequatur. Arbitration, often long and costly, lends itself to third‑party funding.

Arbitration and funding

An article under which the court can order the losing party, or the party bearing the court costs, to pay the other a sum for the expenses it incurred that are not included in those costs, in particular lawyers’ fees. The court sets the amount taking into account fairness and the financial situation of the party ordered to pay. It is also called the procedural indemnity.

A set of investments that share the same source of return and comparable risks: equities, bonds, property, alternative investments. Litigation funding belongs to the alternative investments: its outcome comes from the sums recovered in cases won or settled. The global market is estimated at $19bn in 2024 and projected at $51bn to $65bn by 2035 (SNS Insider, Research Nester, Market Research Future). In Europe, it accounts for 0.8% of a €125bn legal market (European Parliament, 2021).

Uncorrelated assets

The official bulletin of civil and commercial notices: the official publication of acts registered in the trade and companies register, such as incorporations, changes, insolvency proceedings or transfers. Vigie reads it in particular for events affecting companies’ solvency.

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An account held with the CARPA, the independent client‑money fund of each French bar. Sums a lawyer receives on a client’s behalf, such as damages or the amount of a settlement, must be paid into it before being passed on, under the bar’s supervision (article 53 of the law of 31 December 1971, decree no. 96-610 of 5 July 1996).

How it works

A public and ministerial officer who serves procedural documents, such as a writ or a judgment, enforces court decisions, for example through a seizure, and draws up official reports. The profession of commissaire de justice has existed since 1 July 2022: it brings together the former huissiers de justice (bailiffs) and judicial auctioneers (ordonnance no. 2016-728 of 2 June 2016).

Insurance and enforcement

The characteristic of an asset whose outcome does not depend on financial markets. The outcome of a case depends on the legal strength of the claim, the quantum of the loss and the defendant’s solvency. This decorrelation does not predict the performance of any given case: a case can be lost.

Investors

The opposing party’s ability to pay a judgment. A favourable decision against an insolvent debtor results in no recovery. That is why funding is aimed primarily at disputes against banks, insurers, institutions or sound companies.

Insurance and enforcement

The list of questions an institutional investor sends a manager before subscribing: identity and articles of the companies, governance, selection procedure, data protection, marketing compliance, accounts, case data. Hello Justice answers it in writing, on the investor’s template or its own, after eligibility has been verified.

Family offices and institutions

The measures used to obtain actual payment after a judgment or award: service, formal demand to pay, seizures carried out by a commissaire de justice (article L. 111-2 of the French Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures).

Insurance and enforcement

The risk that a change in the exchange rate increases the debt or instalments of a loan denominated in a currency other than that of the borrower’s income or of the financed property. For a borrower housed in France with a Swiss‑franc loan, the franc’s appreciation increased the amount to repay in euros. This is the subject of the Swiss‑franc loan programme.

Swiss‑franc loan

An organisation that manages the wealth of one or several families: allocation across asset classes, manager selection, monitoring and reporting. A family office interested in Hello Justice Capital 1 starts with a meeting with the founders, receives the documentation after eligibility has been verified and may send a due diligence questionnaire, which the manager answers in writing.

Family offices and institutions

The representative institution of the legal profession in France. In a resolution of November 2015, the CNB accepted third‑party litigation funding, subject to the lawyer’s independence and professional secrecy. The Paris Bar took the same position in February 2017.

Lawyers

A fund that invests in other funds rather than directly in assets. A fund of funds that subscribes to Hello Justice Capital 1 does so as a legal entity, with its certificate of incorporation, its articles, the list of its beneficial owners and the documents of its legal representative, after eligibility and the source of funds have been verified.

Family offices and institutions

The share of the sums actually recovered that the funder receives, set as a percentage in the agreement before any commitment. At Hello Justice it ranges from 14 to 30% including VAT depending on the type of case. It is never due if the case fails.

How it works

A procedure by which a qualified claimant sues to obtain compensation for individual losses suffered by people in a similar situation. The French regime was overhauled by the law of 30 April 2025, which also regulates the funding of such actions by a third party.

Group actions in France

The database of court decisions released as open data by the Cour de cassation. It is one of the sources read by Vigie to spot landmark rulings and series of disputes.

Discover Vigie

A law adapting French law to European Union law. Its article 16 recasts the group action and allows it to be funded by a third party, subject to transparency and independence: it is the first French statute to refer expressly to third‑party litigation funding. Decree no. 2025-1191 of 10 December 2025 sets out the disclosure of such funding. These texts do not govern an individual case, which rests on the contract and on the lawyer’s professional rules.

Six months after the decree

The period after which a legal action is no longer admissible. In civil matters, the general limitation period is five years from the day the holder of the right knew or should have known the facts (article 2224 of the French Civil Code). Special periods apply in some matters. Limitation is checked before any funding.

Our method

A mechanism by which a third party, the funder, pays all or part of the cost of court or arbitration proceedings, lawyers’ fees first. In exchange, it receives a share of the sums recovered, only in case of success. If the case fails, nothing is owed to the funder. In France, the Versailles Court of Appeal recognised the validity of this agreement on 1 June 2006, and article 16 of the Act of 30 April 2025 is the first statute to refer to it expressly, for group actions.

How it works

Disputes with between €100,000 and €1 million at stake. Below that, the cost of proceedings becomes disproportionate to the amount at stake. Above it, the large international funders step in. This is the segment Hello Justice is dedicated to, from €100,000 at stake.

Companies

The ethical rules of the legal profession, issued by the French National Bar Council. They govern in particular independence, professional secrecy, conflicts of interest and fees. The tripartite agreement is built to comply with them: the lawyer remains in sole charge of the conduct of the proceedings.

Lawyers

The principle that the funder cannot claim anything from the client if the proceedings fail. The funder bears the risk of the proceedings and is paid only out of the sums actually recovered. With Hello Justice, if the case fails, the client owes Hello Justice nothing.

Test my eligibility

A fee agreement under which the lawyer’s remuneration would depend solely on the outcome of the case. It is prohibited in France by article 10 of the law of 31 December 1971. Only an additional success fee, added to the remuneration for the work performed, is lawful. Third‑party funding does not change this rule.

Lawyers

An offer of securities that, under article L. 411-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code, is not an offer to the public: it is addressed to qualified investors within the meaning of that article or to a restricted circle of investors acting on their own account. It does not require an AMF‑approved prospectus. Hello Justice Capital 1 is offered by private placement, from €100,000, after your eligibility has been checked.

InvestorsThe access process

A series of near‑identical disputes arising from the same triggering event: a standard contract, a commercial practice, a landmark ruling, a regulator’s sanction. The cases share the same arguments and standard documents, which allows them to be handled as a series. Each case remains individual, with its own agreement.

Serial litigation

A lawyer registered with a French bar who practises in the field of the dispute and works with Hello Justice. They analyse whether cases are eligible: the features of the dispute, the limitation period, the completeness of the documents and reasonable prospects of success. They remain independent and bound by professional secrecy (article 66-5 of the law of 31 December 1971). The client keeps the free choice of lawyer: their own, or a specialised partner lawyer if they have none.

Our method

The part of a lawyer’s fees calculated on the outcome obtained. In France it is lawful only in addition to a fee for the work performed, within the limits of the national bar rules. A fee agreement based solely on the outcome (pactum de quota litis) is prohibited.

Lawyers

A company that finances proceedings without being a party to the dispute or the funded party’s lawyer. It bears the financial risk of the proceedings and is paid out of the outcome. Hello Justice is a third‑party funder, distinct from a law firm, a credit institution and an investment services provider.

The company

The funding of proceedings by a person who is neither a party to the dispute nor the funded party’s lawyer. In France, the Versailles Court of Appeal recognised the validity of this agreement on 1 June 2006: such an agreement rests on freedom of contract and on the lawyer’s professional rules. Article 16 of the Act of 30 April 2025 is the first French statute to refer to it expressly, for group actions, and decree no. 2025-1191 of 10 December 2025 sets out the related disclosure rules. Third‑party litigation funding is the term of the trade in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, where listed funders practise it.

The alternative investment

A single contract signed by the client, their lawyer and the funder. It sets the scope of the funding, the funder’s commission in case of success, the fee payment schedule and the independence of the lawyer, who alone decides the procedural strategy. The precise terms of a case are those of the signed agreement.

The fee agreement

Assets whose outcome does not follow equity or bond markets. Litigation funding is one: the outcome of a case depends on the evidence, the law, the opposing party’s solvency and the length of the proceedings. Decorrelation says where the outcome comes from, and nothing about its level: a case can be lost, diversification limits the risk without removing it, and the capital invested can be lost, in part or in full.

Uncorrelated assets

In a contract between a professional and a consumer, a term that creates a significant imbalance between the parties’ rights and obligations (article L. 212-1 of the French Consumer Code). It is deemed unwritten. The unfair‑term qualification is at the heart of foreign‑currency loan disputes since the Cour de cassation rulings of 9 July 2025. This is recent case law, liable to change.

Swiss‑franc loan

The legal form of Hello Justice Capital 1: the capital can increase with subscriptions and decrease with withdrawals without amending the articles at each movement. The partners vote on investments and divestments, major dispute by major dispute, and distributions are paid as cases are resolved.

Investor FAQ

Hello Justice’s proprietary litigation detection algorithm (Vigie by Hello Justice). It reads published court decisions, legal notices and regulators’ decisions, and spots the disputes that recur. It evaluates series of disputes: no individual litigant is scored. The eligibility of each case is then analysed by a specialised partner lawyer.

Discover Vigie