Harbour raises £60m to fund 25 litigation cases

Investors in the £60m portfolio include endowments, family offices, private wealth managers and high-net-worth individuals, Harbour said, adding that it would look for a minimum of 25 cases to invest in.

Harbour was set up in 2007 by a former Shearman & Sterling lawyer Brett Carron and Susan Dunn, who until 2007 managed IM Litigation Funding.

Carron and Dunn will manage the portfolio along with John Kingston, who headed Travers Smith’s litigation practice between 1980 and 2007. Kingston joined Withers as a consultant in June last year (20 July 2009) and will join Harbour this June.

Christopher Coffin, head of litigation at Withers, said: “Following over 30 years in private practice, John Kingston has decided to leave his role as a consultant at Withers and take up a new challenge as a claims handler in-house at Harbour Litigation Funding. We wish John well in his new role and we look forward to working closely with him in future.”

Harbour has established an investment committee chaired by retired High Court judge Sir Gavin Lightman to assess the merits of cases that apply for funding.

The fund will primarily target commercial litigation but will reject defamation, construction or personal injury claims.

Dunn said: “The money raised by this fund will enable us to invest in an even larger number of high quality cases.”