The Contingent Legal Aid Fund (CLAF) has been developed by the Bar Council’s Policy Advisory Group, led by Guy Mansfield QC, and is set out in his report “The Merits of a Contingent Legal Aid Fund”. It would be managed by financial professionals who would determine whether claims should be supported. Successful claims would pay a reasonable proportion of their winnings back into the CLAF pool to fund future claims. A consultation will begin in May.

Commenting on the report Guy Mansfield QC said: “The funding of litigation has changed fundamentally in the past ten years, and the CLAF now looks like an idea whose time has come.”