---
title: "Litigation funding agreement and costs review checklist (including common fund orders and Victorian group costs orders)"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/class-actions-representative-proceedings/funding-and-costs-review-checklist"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a7-funding-and-costs-review-checklist"
area_id: "A7"
kind: "checklist"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-17"
---

# Litigation funding agreement and costs review checklist (including common fund orders and Victorian group costs orders)

> A checklist for reviewing a class action litigation funding agreement and costs agreement: commission and fees, control, conflicts, security and adverse costs, disclosure to group members and the court, common fund…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/class-actions-representative-proceedings/funding-and-costs-review-checklist  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-17

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

A checklist for reviewing a class action litigation funding agreement and costs agreement: commission and fees, control, conflicts, security and adverse costs, disclosure to group members and the court, common fund orders after Kain, and Victorian group costs orders.

## Key facts

- Kind: Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Practice area: [Class Actions / Representative Proceedings](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/class-actions-representative-proceedings.md)
- Jurisdictions: Australia, Victoria, New South Wales
- AI level: Yellow. AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-17
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-17 against the 7 authorities it cites, for Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.

## When to use it

Use when advising a representative applicant, a funder or a law practice on funding and costs arrangements for a class action, before the agreements are signed and again before the first case management hearing and any settlement approval. Not a substitute for advice on the regulatory status of a particular funding scheme.

## How AI may be used

AI may extract the commercial terms of funding and costs agreements into this checklist and compare them with market terms the lawyer supplies, but the reasonableness of commission and costs, and any regulatory characterisation, are lawyer judgments.

**AI may:**

- Extract commission, fees, caps, termination, control and conflict clauses into a comparison table with clause references
- Model the waterfall of a hypothetical settlement using figures the lawyer provides
- Flag clauses that the checklist identifies as requiring disclosure to group members or the court

**AI must not:**

- Must not decide whether a commission or legal costs are fair and reasonable
- Must not characterise the scheme for Corporations Act purposes
- Must not be given privileged case assessments shared with the funder in a tool that retains or trains on inputs

**The lawyer checks:**

- Commission, fees and costs are disclosed clearly and early, and changes are notified
- Conflict management provisions are adequate and operating
- Any proposed common fund order or group costs order is within power after Kain
- The confidential disclosure to the court and the Notice of Disclosure are filed on time

## Authorities

- [Federal Court of Australia, Class Actions Practice Note (GPN-CA) paras 5.1–5.10, 6.1–6.7, 15.4, 16.1–16.4](https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/law-and-practice/practice-documents/practice-notes/gpn-ca)
- [Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 (Cth) ss 33V, 33Z, 33ZF, 33ZJ, 43(1A)](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A01586/latest/text)
- [Kain v R&B Investments Pty Ltd 2025 HCA 28](https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases-and-judgments/judgments/judgments-1998-current/kain-v-rb-investments-pty-ltd)
- [BMW Australia Ltd v Brewster 2019 HCA 45](https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases-and-judgments/cases/decided/case-s1522019)
- [Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic) s 33ZDA](https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/in-force/acts/supreme-court-act-1986)
- [Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) ss 174, 183](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2014-16a)
- [Corporations Regulations 2001 (Cth) (litigation funding scheme exemptions)](https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2001B00274/latest)

## Official form

[Official form](https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/law-and-practice/class-actions)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/class-actions-representative-proceedings/funding-and-costs-review-checklist and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*