Third-party funding in international arbitration: a menace or panacea?

As its Council Member I attended the ICC Institute of World Business Law’s 32nd annual meeting on ‘Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration’ held in Paris on 26 November 2012. It was a grand success as it drew many professionals, arbitrators, experts, academic specialists and, above all, representatives from some major third-party funding bodies such as Burford Group Ltd., Calunius Capital LLP, Fulbrook Management LLC and others, and the discussion and debates generated a great deal of interest among the participants. The presented topics ranged from the concepts of litigation and arbitration financing to more complicated issues such as ethical issues of third-party funding (TPF), due diligence and decision making process in investing in claims by third parties, conflict of interests for arbitrators / counsel, arbitrator’s independence and impartiality, confidentiality and disclosure of TPF and the problems of TPF in investor-State arbitration. The purpose of this blog is to highlight some of the burning issues passionately debated in the meeting. Following the Chatham House Rule the views express herein will not be specifically attributed to any individual or organization.