Knowledge Centre

Litigation finance glossary

The vocabulary of recoverability, every key term, in plain English.

Litigation finance
An arrangement where a third party pays the costs of pursuing a legal claim in exchange for an agreed share of the recovery. Also called litigation funding or legal finance.
Third-party funding (TPF)
Funding of a dispute by an entity that is not a party to it. The funder's return comes from the recovery, not from fees charged to the claimant.
Non-recourse funding
Funding repaid only from recovery. If the funded claim fails, the claimant owes nothing under the funding agreement.
Recoverability
The likelihood that a legal claim converts into actual recovered value, not merely a favourable judgment. Considers merits, evidence, counterparty capacity and the enforcement route.
Recoverability assessment
A structured evaluation of whether a claim can practically convert to cash, across legal merit, documentation, counterparty capacity, enforcement route and proportionality.
Underwriting
The discipline of deciding which claims to fund and on what terms, based on merits, recoverability, documentation, jurisdiction, counterparty capacity and proportionality.
Success fee
The funder's agreed share of the recovery on a funded matter, payable only when value is actually recovered.
Processing / evaluation fee
A fee for the detailed due diligence performed on a claim before a funding decision, indicated per claim based on complexity, value, jurisdiction and documentation.
Litigation management
The end-to-end handling of a matter as one process: evaluation, funding, advocate deployment, monitoring, enforcement and recovery.
Empanelled advocate
An independent advocate vetted and onboarded to a panel. Empanelment is a coordination arrangement; the advocate's professional duties remain to the client and the court.
Brief fee
The ordinary professional fee paid to an advocate for conducting a matter. In India, advocates cannot charge contingency (share-of-recovery) fees.
Limitation period
The statutory time limit within which a claim must be filed. A claim filed after limitation is generally barred, however strong its merits.
Counterparty capacity
The opposing party's ability and willingness to pay: solvency, assets, encumbrances and conduct history. Central to recoverability.
Enforcement / execution
The legal process of converting a judgment or award into actual payment, attachment, garnishee proceedings, sale of assets. Winning is not recovering.
Decree-holder
A party in whose favour a court has passed a decree. A decree-holder still needs execution proceedings to collect if the debtor does not pay.
Arbitral award
The decision of an arbitral tribunal. Enforceable through courts; foreign awards from notified New York Convention countries can be enforced in India.
Award enforcement funding
Funding for the execution stage of an arbitral award, converting a won award into money, including against challenge proceedings.
Cross-border recovery
Pursuing a claim where parties, assets or forum span countries. Planned from where the debtor's assets sit, through the route that can reach them.
Commercial receivable recovery
Converting unpaid business dues, invoices, contract payments, into cash through negotiation, legal action and enforcement.
Working capital preservation
Using funding so that pursuing a claim does not consume the cash a business needs to operate, pursuit costs shift to the funder.
Claim readiness
How prepared a claim is for assessment and pursuit: documentation completeness, chronology coherence, notices issued and limitation position.
Due diligence
The detailed legal, financial and commercial verification of a claim performed after preliminary assessment and before a funding decision.
Investment committee
The body that takes the final funding decision on a claim after due diligence. Assessment indications do not bind it.

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