Campaign justice—crowdfunding for private prosecutions

Table of contents

• Who was responsible for bringing the claim and what was the outcome?
• Are there specific platforms dedicated to funding such legal actions and if so, what is the criteria to be eligible?
• Do you envisage that more cases of this kind will be brought through crowdfunding in the future as traditional sources of public funding for cases dry up?
• Are there any restrictions in terms of how crowdfunded resources are used, ie does the person have to put it towards the legal case or can they use it to crowdfund a salary or cover personal expenses while working on the case?

Article summary

Corporate Crime analysis: A woman accused of killing a cyclist through careless driving has been cleared by a jury in what is believed to be the first entirely crowdfunded UK private prosecution case. David Jugnarain, partner at Edmonds Marshall McMahon, examines the implications of the case for practitioners and explores recent trends in funding private prosecutions.