The U.S. and global litigation finance markets have exploded. In less than a decade, third-party funding has moved from the dusty fringes to center stage of the global legal market and the meteoric growth shows few signs of slowing.

It's easy to see the appeal—every litigation attorney can remember a good case on which they didn't get hired because the client couldn't stomach the fee budget. Litigation finance offers a solution to David and Goliath disputes—a lifeline for financially distressed parties that is now making substantial inroads into the corporate litigation market, where blue chip clients may now opt to outsource the cost of litigation to specialist funders, rather than tying up their own capital in legal costs.

From an investor standpoint, it's a high-risk, non-correlated asset class which offers potentially stratospheric returns, if you back the right horse. Private equity funds, family offices and investors are scrambling to a get piece of the action. And it's not just new funds: A number of the larger and longer-established players are on their second, third or fourth rounds of fundraising. The steady rise of Burford Capital's share price since 2016 is a constant reminder that there is money to be made.