Burford began as a small fund that initially helped corporate legal departments pay their lawyers' billable hours during litigation.

[6] Burford became publicly traded on the London AIM Stock Exchange[7] in October 2009 and issued further shares in a follow-on in 2010.

The project is used to finance commercial litigation and arbitration matters led by women and racially diverse individuals.

[12] On 12 August 2019, Burford alleged it had identified evidence consistent with “illegal market manipulation” of its shares in the run up to the short attack.

[13] On 21 June 2021, Burford announced it had successfully been paid $103m USD, resulting from the enforcement of a judgment in the divorce suit between Farkhad Akhmedov, a Russian businessman and Tatiana Akhmedova.