Discoverability Of Third Party Funding Agreements In Arbitration – Part I

The use of third party funding of arbitration and litigation proceedings provides broader access to formal claim resolution mechanisms, but that benefit may come with some unique issues for the uninitiated.¹2 This post identifies the discoverability issues in arbitration concerning third party funding.

This will be a two-part discussion.  Here, we describe the arguments concerning requests for disclosure of funding agreements and correspondence with funders, as well as the significance of the relevance of such documents to the substantive claims in issue.  In a second part, to be posted here soon, we will discuss the emerging case law regarding whether such documents can be shielded from disclosure by reason of the attorney-client privilege or the work-product doctrine.