ILR in the News

The U.S. legal system is the most expensive in the world in proportion to its GDP and costs roughly 150 percent more than the average Eurozone legal system, according to a study released Wednesday by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform.

The British Government risks importing the worst excesses of the American class actions system if it goes ahead with plans to allow consumers to bring wide-ranging claims against companies, the US Chamber of Commerce has warned.

Your credit card bill already comes attached to alluringly blank "convenience checks." Your tax preparer tempts you to apply for tax refund loans. You're bombarded with television commercials for payday loans. Now, a relative newcomer to this list of "fast cash" borrowing enticements is beginning to hit critical mass and it suddenly is attracting a high degree of attention from state legislatures. It is called a "lawsuit loan" or, if you are in that business, "lawsuit funding." 

A US-based business lobby group is pushing for strict new regulations of the Australian third-party litigation funding industry in an effort to protect local and foreign companies from lawsuits.

One of the leaders of the US business community has warned that Australia's decision to commercialise civil litigation means this country is well on the way to adopting America's worst excesses. Lisa Rickard, executive vice-president of the US Chamber of Commerce, believes the main problem is the federal government's decision not to regulate the financing of class actions by outside companies.

A new generation of investors is plunging into "litigation finance," putting up millions of dollars to fund lawsuits in hopes of collecting when verdicts come down. Established financiers are expanding into new areas, including loans to law firms, and finding clients among the biggest American companies.

Tort-reform groups again cite state’s litigation climate as anti-business.

A statewide legal watchdog group came to town Monday to tout the need for lawsuit reforms to improve Illinois’ economic climate.