Third party litigation funding in Zimbabwe

The law in Zimbabwe permits for third party funding in the form of contingency fee agreements in terms of the Legal Practitioners (Contingency Fee Agreements) Regulations, 2014.

In terms of section 22A of the Legal Practitioners Act [Chapter 27:07] as read with the Legal Practitioners (Contingency Fee Agreements) Regulations, 2014 it is only registered legal practitioners who may enter into third-party litigation funding in Zimbabwe. The law precludes a non-lawyer or layman from providing litigants with funds to prosecute their claims in consideration of a share of the proceeds of the legal action if the litigation is successful. See P Kanokanga, The Law of Costs in Zimbabwe: Text, Cases & Materials (2021) 564 – 582.

In order to be valid, the third party litigation funding agreement should be in respect of legal services. More so, there is an obligation that any legal practitioner entering into such an agreement should be of the opinion that there are reasonable prospects of success in such litigation. Resultantly, contingency fee agreements entered into in Zimbabwe should be reduced to writing and signed by both the legal practitioner and the client. see Gill Godlonton & Gerrans v Mpofu HH 65-17.