Who we help
Investors
Legal assets, underwritten.
- A judgment or award won
- A judgment against you
- Funder capital deployed
- Law firm fees and WIP
- Security for costs
- The opponent's costs
- Disbursements
- Own legal costs
Illustrative. The exposures a dispute can put on a balance sheet. What a policy responds to is set by its wording.
How can litigation insurance apply to investors?
Credit funds, family offices and specialist investors seeking a defined downside on legal-asset exposure. Litigation insurance may be used here to convert an open-ended downside into a more defined one, depending on policy terms and subject to underwriting. Structures, where available, are arranged case by case.
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Key points
- Terms, where available, are set case by case through underwriting.
- Credit funds, family offices and specialist investors seeking a defined downside on legal-asset exposure.
- Exposure can be measured across costs, capital and judgment risk together.
- Protection, where available, is arranged around the specific decision being taken, not sold as a package.
- Jurisdiction can affect how much of the exposure is costs-driven.
The exposure
Credit funds, hedge funds and family offices that buy or lend against legal assets take on legal risk they may not be set up to assess case by case.
The asset's value depends on an outcome that is binary, delayed and hard to model.
What can be protected
- The capital invested in, or lent against, a legal asset
- The value of a judgment or award pending appeal or enforcement
- Portfolio-level outcomes
How engagements usually run
Cover is usually arranged in parallel with the investment's own diligence, with the insurer's view of the legal risk becoming part of the investment case.
Illustrative scenario
An investor lends £20m against a portfolio of funded claims. The lender is named as loss payee on a portfolio capital protection policy that responds if aggregate recoveries fall below the loan amount.
Figures are invented to show the mechanics. They describe no real client, matter or outcome.
Questions worth asking first
- Is our exposure to single cases or to a diversified book?
- Who controls case decisions?
- How will the insurer's rights interact with ours?
Frequently asked
How can investors limit legal-asset risk?
By insuring the capital invested or lent against legal assets, or the value of a judgment or award, so the investment has a defined floor.
Can a lender be named on a litigation insurance policy?
Often, as a loss payee, so that insurance proceeds are paid towards the debt.
What is a legal asset?
A right to money arising from a dispute — a claim, a judgment, an arbitral award or contingent fees — that can be valued, financed or sold.
Can an investor insure an arbitral award?
Yes. Award insurance can protect against set-aside or annulment, and some structures cover non-payment by a state.
Who controls the case in an insured investment?
Usually the claimant and its lawyers, subject to the funding agreement and the policy's reporting and consent provisions.
General information only. This page is not legal, financial, investment or insurance advice. Any insurance is subject to underwriting and to the terms of the policy wording issued.
Where to go next
Relevant products
Jurisdictions