CMS Cameron McKenna has begun offering conditional fee arrangements (CFAs) to litigation clients more widely after the firm won its first case on a 'no win, no fee' basis early this year.

CFAs are one of a range of alternative fee arrangement (AFA) options CMS has been increasingly making available to clients in the wake of Lord Justice Jackson's civil procedure reforms, which came into effect earlier this year. 

The options are likely to widen to include damages-based agreements (DBAs) or fixed fees for backed cases. Head of arbitration Guy Pendell said that the firm had also begun working with third-party litigation funders, including Calunius Capital, Burford Capital and Harbour Litigation Funding, on its package of AFAs.

The use of litigation funders has become more common since Jackson's reforms, which meant clients would be liable to pay costs after entering into CFAs.

Burford Capital this week launched a hybrid DBA product that allows the funder and the participating law firm to share in liability for damages awarded in civil cases. 

A raft of top firms – including Pinsent Masons and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan – are in talks over using the model, according to the funder. 

In July CMS won the first case it took on under a CFA when it successfully advised the Hackney Empire Theatre in its 10-year dispute with insurer Aviva over the payment of a £1.1m construction bond. The case was partially funded by Lord Alan Sugar.

Pendell said that although "the number of full CFAs entered into in complex commercial disputes is very small", clients are likely to use them increasingly as part of "a range of AFAs". 

Related event: Commercial Litigation Forum 2013.