Third-party umming and arring

Recent reports have pointed to the fact that third-party litigation funding is finally entering the mainstream of City litigation, with Herbert Smith considering whether to go down that alley.

This claim is likely to have shocked some City lawyers, and rightly so, as many of them probably thought they were already working on such funding in the mainstream City litigation arena.

Not wanting to name any names, but Norton Rose must surely feel a few of its feathers have been ruffled.

Norton Rose, which would most definitely classify itself as a mainstream City litigation firm, managed to secure one of the largest third-party fundings in litigation against accountancy firm Moore Stephens back in January.

Herbert Smith's initiative, it should be noted, has not even started. For news of when it does, watch this space.