Crowdfunding bankrolls £2.3million of legal action through Scottish courts
More than £2.3million has been generated to fund legal action in Scotland through online donations, according to new research.
The first study into the phenomenon of litigation crowdfunding reveals almost 78,000 people have donated cash to support cases through the Scottish courts.
Dr Andrew Tickell, lecturer in law at GCU, analysed more than five years’ worth of donations as part of the study, which has been published in the Edinburgh Law Review.
The People’s Action on Section 30 campaign raised the greatest sum through crowdfunding in Scottish legal history so far.
Pro-independence activist Martin Keatings secured donations of over £268,000 from more than 9,900 people towards his case against the Advocate General for Scotland that a hypothetical independence referendum Bill would fall within Holyrood’s legislative powers.
In 2019, £207,970 was raised to challenge the lawfulness of Boris Johnson’s prorogation of Parliament in the Court of Session, culminating in a UK Supreme Court judgment.
And former First Minister Alex Salmond raised just over £100,000 to launch a judicial review of Scottish Government decision-making during an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against him.
The 10 highest-value Scottish crowdfunding campaigns raised a total of £1,624,253 from 65,428 people.
Dr Tickell said: "Crowdfunded litigation is in rude health in Scotland, raising substantial sums of money from large numbers of people to support legal actions in this jurisdiction.
"Many of the highest-value Scottish campaigns involved litigants mobilising their already significant political and social capital."
Half of all litigation appeals raised less than £10,000 (47%), and almost three quarters received contributions from fewer than 1000 people (72%).
In total, 63 crowdfunding campaigns, launched between January 2015 to August 2021, raised £2,349,054 in cash.
Figures show 46% of crowdfunding appeals involved some kind of judicial review proceedings, 13% were for defence funds for criminal charges or contempt of court, and 9.5% related to defamation cases.
The remainder covered an array of proceedings, including fatal accident inquiries, debt recovery, immigration and eviction challenges, employment tribunal cases, and divorce actions.
Dr Tickell said: "Litigation crowdfunding has established itself as a viable way of financing court actions in Scotland during the last five years.
"The data suggests the success of particular crowdfunders is more obviously attributable to the crowd’s pre-existing political sympathies, antipathies and affiliations, and the emotion and affect which can be stirred by the successful mobilisation of existing online networks."