Professor Maya Steinitz, at the University of Iowa College of Law, has an interesting research/crowdsourcing/transparency project going on at her new site, A Model Litigation Financing Contract: Litigation Funding in Theory and Practice. For those interested in this practice, it's worth a look.
She explains:
Litigation finance is third-party funding of litigation for a profit -- a booming and controversial new industry. In this project, I am suggesting draft model provisions, and ultimately a full contract, and inviting the public - academics and practitioners - to opine. Currently, all such contracts contain confidentiality provisions and international arbitration clauses which means the practice is completely secretive. Provisions and contracts that have become publically available -- usually when claimants sue funders -- have revealed less than optimal arrangements (putting it mildly). The success of the project will revolve on participation by readers. I believe this is a novel way of doing academic work: posting draft model legal instruments and inviting and moderating a public debate on them.
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