Posts Tagged ‘ Legal Funding ’

Investment Tip? Legal Lending: Place your Bets!

November 18th, 2010. By Hunter West

Would you entertain an investment that pays up to 24 percent annually? Sound too good to be true? A Ponzi scheme? 

Au contraire, Mon ami. Litigation is the new investment playground, my darlings… 

One aspect of the legal system that will surprise some is the growth in legal lending. That’s right—the business of lending (for profit) in order to fund litigation. 

Lawsuits are expensive. The larger legal houses may have the financial clout to self-finance. However for the remainder, financing the action in order to get you through to the settlement (and the payoff) can be a hardship, if not impossible. 

So lawyers borrow money to fund lawsuits from entities that are in the business of doing just that. 

The New York Times recently ran a fascinating story based on an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit based in Washington. There are a number of firms that specialize in floating loans to legal firms in order to finance lawsuits—presumably, after their efforts to secure financing through ordinary channels (the charted banks) fall through. 

In comes Counsel Financial, based in Buffalo and financed by CitiGroup. There’s also LawFinance Group. And LawCash, based in Brooklyn. They come to the rescue when traditional Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Lawsuit Investing, Legal Funding, Legal Lending
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