One of the country's biggest high-volume claims firms is braced for continued expansion after arming itself with more than £200m in litigation funding in the last financial year.
Newly-published accounts covering the year ended 28 February 2025 show that Courmacs Legal, based in Blackburn, increased long-term borrowing from £11.1m to almost £217m.
The business listed assets of £198m, up from £17.8m the previous year. This consists mostly of work in progress, the value of which increased from £15.5m to almost £177m.
Taking account of the amount owed within a year more than doubling to £14m, Courmacs posted net liabilities of £29.2m by the end of the financial year.
Headcount rose from 14 employees to 41, with that figure is believed to have grown further since February.
In September 2024, the firm took out a new fixed charge with investment company Eram Capital Partners and now appears to be well financed to continue major growth of its claims activity.
Since 2023, the firm’s website states that more than 1.6m clients have instructed Courmacs, making more than 3.5m claims.
Darren Smith, managing director of Courmacs Legal Ltd, told the Gazette: ‘We are a rapidly growing firm, proud of our roots in the north west of England and proud to represent millions of clients across the UK on matters as diverse as motor finance mis-selling to housing repairs claims.
‘Our accounts reflect that we use litigation funding enabling us to fight the biggest institutions on behalf of consumers ensuring they get access to justice and fair compensation for the harm that has been done to them. We will fight for even more consumers in 2026, hiring new lawyers and staff to help our clients.’
Courmacs has been a particularly prominent voice in the campaign to ensure compensation for consumers who may have been caught up in the car loan commissions scandal. It is understood the firm has 1.5m motor finance claimants on its books.
Last month, Smith described the Financial Conduct Authority’s decision to cap interest added to compensation at 2.07% as ‘frankly insulting’. ‘It exposes a staggering hypocrisy,’ the Guardian quoted him as saying. ‘If the boot was on the other foot, and a bank was a successful claimant in a commercial dispute, would they meekly accept 2.09% on their losses?’
As well as car finance, Courmacs Legal, which was incorporated in February 2021, runs housing disrepair claims, business energy claims and mis-sold pension claims.
As part of its growth plans, this week it appointed Courtney Lawson as the new head of PCP (personal contract purchase). Lawson qualified as a solicitor last year and has a background in consumer rights claims.
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