OFF THE PRESS

RD Legal Funding LLC (RD Legal) recently published "Legal Funding 101," a white paper written by company President Joseph Genovesi. The paper provides a synopsis of the growing legal funding industry, which many members of the legal community have likely heard about in passing, but may not fully understand the details. Since the early 1990s, legal finance has grown from a small industry to a now viable option that many attorneys have come to use. Genovesi's goal in writing the paper was to educate the legal community about how legal finance works, and how it can help attorneys. The paper is written both to aid attorneys, and to educate the general public about this growing sector. "I think we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of how legal finance is being used now and I expect for it to evolve and grow in the future," says Genovesi. "The purpose of 'Legal Funding 101' is to give a very basic explanation of how different types of legal financing can benefit attorneys." "Legal Funding 101" discusses a basic history of the funding industry, why traditional financing may not be the best option for attorneys, and explanations of a variety of financing options that are available to attorneys. Genovesi delves into different types of traditional funding, then different types of alternative litigation funding, to emphasize how alternative litigation funding is designed specifically to aid attorneys. He also takes the time to differentiate between various types of alternative litigation financing because some are more targeted or niche than others. At the end of the paper, Genovesi includes two case studies that describe the full process of legal financing, specifically Fee Acceleration. "There are an abundance of legal finance companies out there, the majority of which focus solely on pre-settlement funding," Genovesi explains. "In addition, there are others that focus on post-settlement funding, case-cost financing, voucher funding, judgment / verdict funding and appeals funding, so it is very important to make distinctions to determine what the best fit is for your law firm." The white paper was released on RD Legal's blog, http://www.legalfunding.com/blog/legal-funding-101-by-rd-legal-funding/, and is available for anyone to read. Published: Tue, Feb 18, 2014