Even a small law firm can take on difficult and complex cases. If you are still growing your start-up law firm, and have cases that can catapult you to a more financially secure position, then you may need a little capital to keep the litigation going.
Baker Street Funding is a company that specializes in providing funding for litigation cases. The company offers a broad spectrum of wholesale litigation capital to plaintiffs’ attorneys and can offer innovative finance solutions to your firm. If you partner with Baker Street, you will pay a 2% flat rate on the capital given to you.
What is Litigation Funding?
Litigation funding consists of a third party providing a law firm the financial resources it needs to fight costly litigation. Although smaller law firms most often seek such financing, even large and well-established law firms seek this kind of funding to offset some of the costs of an exceedingly complex case.
This is the way it works. A litigant obtains all or part of the money needed to cover legal costs from the funder, who has no direct interest in the proceedings. If the case is won, the funder receives an agreed share or percentage of the proceeds of the claim. The funder loses its money if the case is lost, and the litigant owes nothing.
The funder takes all the risk in such an arrangement, so litigation funding companies will only lend money to cases that have a good chance of success. Most such firms use highly sophisticated and experienced attorneys and investigators to determine whether a claim is worth the risk.
Your Firm’s Ability to Fight the Good Fight
Litigation funding is an excellent way to get justice for your clients. If, for example, you are representing a veteran who is suing the Department of Veteran Affairs, then you will be going up against the financial titan that is the United States Government. An entity with an almost unlimited amount of money to fight off such lawsuits. Indeed, if the government loses even one such lawsuit, it can open them up to further litigation by other veterans. Once you decide to take on such a case, you must have the financial means to pursue long-term litigation.
This kind of financing is also necessary if you represent clients who have been injured by a product defect or in an accident caused by recklessness or negligence. If the respondent is a large corporation or an incredibly wealthy person, they will have the means to drag the case out so that it becomes so costly your client will feel the pressure to settle.
Litigation funding gives you another option. The companies that offer these types of loans look for high-value cases with a great deal of merit. In most instances, a costly litigation case involves a high settlement or judgment in the offing. Litigation funding provides a cost-effective tool for claimants to fight these cases to the point at which they can get a fair and adequate settlement or a jury verdict in their favor.
Is Litigation Funding Legal?
This kind of funding is perfectly legal in most jurisdictions in the United States. It should also be noted that the practice is growing throughout the country and the world.
If you are a law firm shopping around for such funding, you should ask potential funders what their rates are and if they are capped. Funding companies that offer compounding rates and no caps are shakier and less reliable than more established enterprises. They put together one-off funding packages on a case-by-case basis, which can take a long time to do. On the other hand, However, Baker Street Funding has immediate access to capital. If they approve your litigation funding, you will receive the money straight away at a non-compounding rate.
