Seven Stars Legal Funding

We are honoured to announce that Louis Doyle KC has been appointed to the Seven Stars Board of Directors, a role he takes up while remaining in full-time practice as King’s Counsel (KC), a leading barrister at the Bar of England and Wales. Louis is already a long-standing member of our Advisory Panel and will continue to act in that capacity alongside his additional duties as a Board member. Louis was admitted a solicitor in England & Wales in 1994 before being called to the Bar in 1996. Since 1999 he has practised from Kings Chambers, Manchester and, as of this year, he is also as an associate member at leading set, South Square, Gray’s Inn. He took silk and was appointed Queen’s Counsel (QC) in 2020 (QCs becoming KCs with the late Queen’s passing). Louis has very wide experience of commercial litigation, especially that with an insolvency or company law angle – he is the co-author of Doyle, Keay and Curl: Annotated Insolvency Legislation (LexisNexis), now in its 12th edition – as well as all manner of financial disputes. His practice also extends to advisory work and assisting, alone or as part of a team, in the drafting of bespoke commercial documents. He has appeared in about sixty reported cases in his field and is also a contributing editor to the leading looseleaf, Gore-Browne on Companies. He is admitted also to the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, British Virgin Islands Circuit. Please join us in welcoming Louis to his new role; we’re excited to have him expand his duties and already immense contributions to our team. You can learn more about Louis and his background at https://lnkd.in/ei9XKZHh. 

Whether you're one of our investors, a borrowing law firm, have attended or met one of our team at an event this year, or keep up with our activities and insights via LinkedIn, thank you for being a part of everything we've achieved in 2024. We can't wait to show you what 2025 has in store, either! But for now (and certainly if you're reading this on Christmas Eve!), it's time to log out of LinkedIn and relax - even if only for a few days! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us here at Seven Stars! #LitigationFinance #AccessToJustice #MerryChristmas #HappyNewYear

It’s the start of the festive break, which means there’s a “year in review” or “what’s happening next year” piece to read wherever you look. Depending on your preferred sources, you might even stumble across the odd quiz, too! The real challenge is often to find something substantial rather than filler, and this analysis of expected litigation trends in 2025 from CDR Magazine more than ticks the boxes in that respect. Scroll towards the bottom for the analysis specifically relating to litigation funding, which includes a lot of what’s been close to our hearts in 2024 - and is sure to be again in 2025 - including the hoped-for revival of the Litigation Funding Agreements (Enforceability) Bill and the Civil Justice Council’s market review. #LitigationFunding #Paccar #AccessToJustice #LitigationTrends

The announcement everyone expected from the Financial Conduct Authority. While the regulator is taking care to differentiate between its long-standing investigations into DCA-related complaints and recent developments around non-discretionary commissions, the alignment of dates around both types of car finance mis-selling claims feels significant and that the FCA is likely to deliver future updates on both claim types simultaneously. We await the outcome of Barclays' appeal against this week's judicial review decision and of Close Brothers' and FirstRand Bank's appeals at the Supreme Court in the new year as we continue to analyse and formulate our approach to potentially funding PCP mis-selling claims. #CarFinanceMisselling #PCPMisselling #LitigationFinance #AccessToJustice

The announcement everyone expected from the Financial Conduct Authority. While the regulator is taking care to differentiate between its long-standing investigations into DCA-related complaints and recent developments around non-discretionary commissions, the alignment of dates around both types of car finance mis-selling claims feels significant and that the FCA is likely to deliver future updates on both claim types simultaneously. We await the outcome of Barclays' appeal against this week's judicial review decision and of Close Brothers' and FirstRand Bank's appeals at the Supreme Court in the new year as we continue to analyse and formulate our approach to potentially funding PCP mis-selling claims. #CarFinanceMisselling #PCPMisselling #LitigationFinance #AccessToJustice

Justice Timothy Kerr has dismissed Barclays’ attempt to overturn a Financial Ombudsman Service decision relating to car finance mis-selling. The judge said the Ombudsman was entitled to take its decision to rule in favour of a customer when it upheld a complaint relating to undisclosed commission after Barclays’ Clydesdale Financial Services brand paid a £1,320 commission to a broker, which the FOS said may have led to the customer paying a higher interest rate. Barclays plans to file an appeal against the judgment, which was published this morning (17th December). The Financial Conduct Authority - which is set to announce an extension to the pause in car finance complaint handling to cover non-discretionary commissions on Thursday - has acknowledged the outcome of the judicial review, saying it welcomes the “additional clarity this judgment brings to consumer complaints involving DCAs.” While the FCA has been keen to stress the difference between DCA and non-DCA cases in recent communications, including Nikhil Rathi’s appearance on The Martin Lewis Money Show Live last week, it still feels likely that the regulator will align its timelines and investigations around both claim types ahead of Close Brothers’ and FirstRand Bank’s Supreme Court Appeals in early 2025. We’re continuing to monitor developments around car finance mis-selling with a view to developing funding criteria around this case type. #CarFinanceMisselling #PCPMisselling #LitigationFinance #AccessToJustice

Justice Timothy Kerr has dismissed Barclays’ attempt to overturn a Financial Ombudsman Service decision relating to car finance mis-selling. The judge said the Ombudsman was entitled to take its decision to rule in favour of a customer when it upheld a complaint relating to undisclosed commission after Barclays’ Clydesdale Financial Services brand paid a £1,320 commission to a broker, which the FOS said may have led to the customer paying a higher interest rate. Barclays plans to file an appeal against the judgment, which was published this morning (17th December). The Financial Conduct Authority - which is set to announce an extension to the pause in car finance complaint handling to cover non-discretionary commissions on Thursday - has acknowledged the outcome of the judicial review, saying it welcomes the “additional clarity this judgment brings to consumer complaints involving DCAs.” While the FCA has been keen to stress the difference between DCA and non-DCA cases in recent communications, including Nikhil Rathi’s appearance on The Martin Lewis Money Show Live last week, it still feels likely that the regulator will align its timelines and investigations around both claim types ahead of Close Brothers’ and FirstRand Bank’s Supreme Court Appeals in early 2025. We’re continuing to monitor developments around car finance mis-selling with a view to developing funding criteria around this case type. #CarFinanceMisselling #PCPMisselling #LitigationFinance #AccessToJustice

As was widely expected, the Supreme Court has granted Permission to Appeal in the three car finance mis-selling cases that were found in favour of the claimants at the Court of Appeal in late October. With a date for the Appeals to be confirmed in early 2025 and the Financial Conduct Authority set to announce an extension to its pause on claims to cover non-discretionary commissions, we're continuing to monitor the situation with regard to our approach to funding car finance mis-selling claims. #LitigationFinance #CarFinanceMisselling #PCPMisselling #AccessToJustice

Financial Conduct Authority chief executive Nikhil Rathi had a busy day yesterday, with an appearance in front of the Commons Treasury Committee followed up with a spot on The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV1 last night. All in all, neither appearance really told us anything new about the status of the regulator's motor finance investigations, although Rathi did concede that a pause on non-discretionary commission complaints is inevitable. The question is how long will that pause be? We still anticipate the FCA will announce the pause will be until the same date currently in place for DCA-related complaints - 4th December 2025 - when it reports on its recent consultation on the matter next week. #CarFinanceMisselling #LitigationFinance #AccessToJustice

Another week and another reason the Financial Conduct Authority is under fire. After recently being excoriated by car finance lenders and MPs, the regulator this week finds itself subject to a judicial review - starting today - of its handling of compensation to businesses that were victims of interest rate “swaps” mis-selling. Muddying the waters are claims that HM Treasury pressured the FCA to “go easy on the banks,” although a 2021 independent review found that the redress scheme remained under the regulator’s control. With around one in three businesses said to have missed out on mis-selling compensation, the judicial review could bring a significant result and payouts for those affected, while the spotlight on the regulator and the banking sector will grow ever more intense. We also expect to hear confirmation from the regulator this week of an extension to the pause on car finance mis-selling claims to include agreements where non-discretionary commissions were paid in addition to those with a DCA, to which the current pause applies. #LitigationFinance #AccessToJustice #CarFinanceMisselling #FinancialMisselling