Devising a more sophisticated strategy to finance your case costs can free up cash spent on existing cases -- i.e., refinance the costs and take the cash out . Explore how case cost financing has traditionally been done and compare it to the way things should be done to enhance your firm’s revenue and income.
READ MOREPre-settlement funding (PSF) products offer claimants up-front cash during a pending lawsuit in exchange for an ownership interest in all or a portion of the eventual award or settlement on a non-recourse basis. So, what, exactly, does that mean?
READ MOREIn April 2022, Chief District Judge Colm F. Connolly of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware issued a standing order requiring litigants appearing before him to disclose whether any part of their attorneys’ fees and expenses are being paid by a third party in exchange for a share of the litigation proceeds or “a non-monetary result.”
READ MOREIn recent years, litigation funders have worked hard to cast themselves less as profiteers benefitting from strife and more as socially responsible investors facilitating access to justice—even while often enjoying high, non-correlated returns.
READ MOREThe Association of Professional ResponsibilityLawyers (APRL), comprised of 400+ lawyers and law professors who advise on legal ethics matters, has proposed that the American Bar Association (ABA) amend its model rules to allow lawyers licensed in any U.S. jurisdiction to “practice law and represent willing clients” regardless of geographic location, forum where the services will be provided, or which jurisdiction’s rules will apply.
READ MOREThough the process of virtually communicating with clients and managing cases accelerated during COVID-related lockdowns, personal injury attorneys have been embracing cutting-edge technology for years to help secure justice for injured clients.
READ MOREThough the sentiment no doubt resonates with plaintiff attorneys, don’t go running off to book a seat on the next Space X flight just yet: There are mindset shifts and actions you can undertake right here, right now on Planet Earth (Planet Law?) to shift the odds in your favor.
READ MOREThe commercial trucks transporting more than 70% of items shipped in the U.S. need more than the length of a football field to stop at highway speeds—and their drivers are ten times more likely to be killed on the job than the average American worker.
READ MORESince the 1970s, big business and insurance interests have lobbied for “reforms” designed to reduce tort litigation and damages. Proponents argue the civil justice system is biased in favor of high plaintiff awards, which drive up liability insurance premiums and cause economic harm through social inflation.
READ MOREProposals to allow non-lawyer workers and investors into legal markets are often met with loud objections from attorneys concerned that changes would tarnish the legal profession, harm consumers, and affect their own bottom lines.
READ MORECalifornia, like many other states, is grappling with how to enhance consumer access to needed legal services. In early 2020, the state bar established a working group to explore a prior task force’s recommendations on managing legal services delivery involving technology, including artificial intelligence and the internet. A key concern is deciding how to integrate and regulate non-traditional providers in the legal services market.
READ MOREFrom the research, development and manufacture of pharmaceuticals to biotechnology-based food to medicines and medical devices, Intellectual property (IP) litigation is growing in the technology sector and the life sciences industry.
READ MORESeeing is believing…and when you visit the revamped and restocked LevelEsq YouTube channel you’re going to get an eyeful of more than a dozen brand new videos worth of great, diverse content!
READ MOREIn at least 30 states, business interests have influenced legislation discouraging COVID-19 lawsuits, often by increasing proof burdens for plaintiffs, according to Reuters. Insurance companies have also enjoyed broad success on motions to dismiss COVID-related damage claims. Some recent state court findings, however, offer plaintiffs hope of recovery in certain situations.
READ MOREIf you specialize in car accident litigation and have not seen a case involving Amazon deliveries, you likely will soon. A 2019 investigation linked sixty accidents involving Amazon delivery contractors to serious injuries—including 10 deaths—since June 2015.
READ MORECorporate bankruptcies in the U.S. reached a 10-year high in 2020, then decreased to historic lows in 2021. To an extent, the steep hike in 2020 justifies the tame 2021 numbers, as many distressed companies folded quickly under pandemic economic pressures. Trillions of dollars in stimulus funds, debt forbearance, and continued low interest rates likely staved off many bankruptcies last year.
READ MOREIn 2020, Australia began requiring litigation funders to register and submit to regulatory oversight as “managed investment schemes” for class actions. In October 2021, the government introduced a bill proposing further reforms purporting to improve transparency and protection for class action group members. Many worry the bill is ill-suited to its intended result.
READ MOREPublic sector affirmative litigation appears to be growing, encouraged by organizations like the Public Rights Project. Cities, including New York and San Francisco, have affirmative litigation departments.
READ MOREThe many disruptions to the flow of goods due to the pandemic-related lockdowns may well increase litigation as companies try to deflect resulting costs onto others and may prove to be a boon to your law practice.
READ MOREAs part of an initiative to increase low- and middle-income consumers’ access to legal services, Arizona in January 2021 became the first U.S. state to allow non-lawyer law firm ownership.
READ MORETo increase consumer access to justice in the state, the Utah Supreme court in August 2020 established a Legal Services Innovation Office (IO) and a seven-year experimental program, called the Sandbox, to allow lawyers and non-lawyers to provide legal services under the state supreme court’s supervision.
READ MOREAt the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, many feared a drastic disruption of the legal industry, as emptying offices spurred fears of layoffs, pay cuts, and insolvency. The legal market, however, experienced a boom in 2021.
READ MOREEntertainment giant Live Nation’s name is virtually synonymous with large live events and concerts. It is also increasingly showing up as a defendant in wrongful death lawsuits. These cases can lead to large recoveries for plaintiffs but often after substantial challenges, not the least of which is taking on a giant conglomerate dollar for dollar.
READ MOREWant a concise-yet-powerful overview of innovative, affordable case cost insurance and litigation financing solutions that have empowered plaintiff attorneys across the country to boost firm profitability even as they focus more fully than ever on pursuing justice for clients?
READ MOREAs a specialist in medical malpractice and complex personal injury cases, Paul da Costa admits he’s grown a bit skeptical of insurance companies, generally. Perhaps you share in this skepticism -- as a company founded by plaintiff attorneys, LevelEsq is more than sympathetic to such sentiments.
READ MOREIn a December 2021 report, reinsurance company Swiss Re designated third-party litigation finance (TPLF) as a major contributor to U.S. social inflation. The report defines TPLF as investors financing consumer or commercial litigation either through non-recourse loans (no repayment without a recovery) or by accepting legal assets as collateral.
READ MOREIn November the Florida Bar’s Board of Governors unanimously rejected proposals to let non-attorneys own law firms and share in legal fees.
READ MOREIn a twist on the trend toward mandatory disclosure of money involved in litigation, New York is now requiring defendants to give plaintiffs with personal injury claims broad information about the defendant’s insurance coverage.
READ MOREThough it appeared for much of the last quarter of 2021 that the pandemic might finally be winding down, the subsequent tsunami of omicron variant cases guarantees that the continuances and backlogs that have plagued courtrooms for nearly three years continue for some time to come.
READ MORELevelEsq is proud to have covered more than $100 million in case costs for plaintiff lawyers with Litigation Cost Protection (LCP), a revolutionary product that reimburses all case expenses in the event of a loss at trial.
READ MOREThough Ebenezer Scrooge’s story proved more adaptable to popular media, let us not forget his second-cousin Elijah Esquire—from the plaintiff’s attorney side of the family—was also visited by four ghosts one Christmas Eve.
READ MOREA March 2021 decision in the U.S. District Court in Nevada illustrates how focus on the merits of a lawsuit can misdirect one from important procedural details. The plaintiff in the case, a Nevada-based importer of luxury vehicles from China, made some solid allegations of legal malpractice against a global law firm.
READ MOREIn September 2021, Bloomberg Law conducted a limited survey of 38 litigation finance providers and 37 attorneys who had used or were interested in using litigation finance.
READ MOREThe developers of the Tinder app have sued billionaire mogul Barry Diller’s companies, Match Group and IAC, in New York state court for allegedly engaging in misleading tactics to cause the platform to be undervalued during the media groups’ acquisition of it.
READ MOREThe U.S. Chamber of Commerce has argued in an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that undisclosed litigation funding agreements endanger the American justice system.
READ MOREIf you handle product liability cases, you’re familiar with mass tort bankruptcy. Beginning with asbestos litigation in the 1980s, defendant companies confronting vast financial losses from mass tort actions have increasingly turned to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
READ MOREPerhaps no case has brought more media attention to litigation finance than Hulk Hogan’s sex tape lawsuit against Gawker Media.
READ MOREIn the Northern District of California, the court denied class counsel’s request for recovery of litigation funding expenses from the corpus of a class settlement.
READ MOREApothio LLC, a research group focused on the commercialization of hemp, is financing its civil case against California law enforcement by selling off crypto tokens in an “initial litigation offering” (ILO).
READ MOREFind out how revolutionary litigation funding and case cost insurance tools from LevelEsq level the playing field and increase profitability for Personal Injury cases—past, present, and future.
READ MOREThough some states now allow non-lawyers to own law firms, the practice is not without controversy.
READ MOREThough the negligence of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers can profoundly affect patients’ and their families’ lives, medical malpractice cases are complex and notoriously difficult to win. In addition, political lobbyists have spent an endless amount of money to convince the public that doctors can do no harm and that all medical malpractice cases are lawyer-driven and frivolous.
READ MOREAs the public has become more aware of third-party litigation funding in recent years and judges and lawyers have grappled with the ethical implications of these arrangements, the concept of requiring parties to disclose information about litigation funding has gained traction.
READ MOREIn September, former U.S. Department of Justice official Gary Barnett became the new executive director and general counsel of the International Legal Finance Association (ILFA), a global organization for the commercial legal finance industry. In his time at DOJ, Barnett held various positions, including senior counselor to the attorney general, acting director in the Office of Victims of Crime, and acting chief of staff to ex-attorney general Matt Whitaker. Before his tour with the Justice Department, Barnett worked as a staffer for then-U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake.
READ MOREIn September, the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division and AccessLex Institute released the results of a survey examining the effects of law school loans on career and life decisions of new lawyers. Last year, after survey results suggested that educational debt was causing young lawyers to choose jobs because of higher pay and to delay or miss out on things like getting married, having children or buying a home, the ABA began probing further.
READ MOREFemale attorneys deserve a weapon to fight back against long-standing disparities in pay and opportunities. Thanks to Litigation Cost Protection (LCP) and Lawsuit Cost Financing (LCF) from LevelEsq they finally have it.
READ MORELevelEsq’s founders, Larry Bassuk and Justin Leto, are both members of the Florida Bar. After the launch of Litigation Cost Protection (“LCP”) in 2016, they began the process of obtaining a written ethics opinion from the Florida Bar that would permit the premium ‘pass through.’ It was the beginning of a winding road that ultimately led them to Tallahassee to make their case to the Florida Bar Board of Governors.
READ MOREWelcome to the LevelEsq (r)evolution. Did you know that, in addition to protecting your downside economic risk, LCP can help you increase the profits you earn on a case? Don’t choose between sword or shield. Find out how LevelEsq can arm you with both, level the litigation playing field, and transform you into a lawyer with which to be reckoned.
READ MOREThink Litigation Cost Protection (LCP) might encourage attorneys to throw a case? Think again. Find out why LCP actually encourages proper resolution, not the opposite.
READ MOREIt was a stressor only all too common in the life of a trial lawyer. The more of his own money attorney Justin Leto invested in a contingency case, the more profound the risk to his business. It seemed like such a basic, fundamental problem that was being shared by so many other litigators. Why had no one yet proposed a solution?
READ MOREA law or policy that requires an enterprise to disclose where it gets its capital could be considered ludicrous. So, why are lawyers and law firms -- particularly those that represent victims suffering the consequences of others’ negligence – treated differently?
READ MOREDevising a more sophisticated strategy to finance your case costs can free up cash spent on existing cases -- i.e., refinance the costs and take the cash out . Explore how case cost financing has traditionally been done and compare it to the way things should be done to enhance your firm’s revenue and income.
READ MOREJason Hartman talks with Justin Leto, co-founder of Level Insurance, about how his company is helping the legal profession by offering litigation insurance. This gives lawyers protection from lost expenses when working contingency cases.
READ MOREThe U.S. legal services market has within the past five years warmed up to the idea of litigation finance, a practice first adopted in Australia and then the U.K. A well-known British-based broker of litigation funding, TheJudge Group Holdings Ltd., will announce Wednesday it is launching in the U.S. with hopes to grow domestic awareness of another across-the-pond legal financial product: Litigation insurance for plaintiffs.
READ MOREThe U.S. legal services market has within the past five years warmed up to the idea of litigation finance, a practice first adopted in Australia and then the U.K. A well-known British-based broker of litigation funding, TheJudge Group Holdings Ltd., will announce Wednesday it is launching in the U.S. with hopes to grow domestic awareness of another across-the-pond legal financial product: Litigation insurance for plaintiffs.
READ MOREPlaintiffs lawyers know the rule: If they lose their lawsuits, they and their clients pay the expenses, while defendants often have insurance to defray legal costs. But what if there were a way to mitigate the financial risk plaintiffs assume in bringing a case to trial?
READ MOREThere is some bad news for people who fret our society is excessively litigious. A startup in the normally stuffy insurance industry has just made bringing a lawsuit less risky.
READ MOREJustin Leto and Larry Bassuk were two trial attorneys in Miami when, from experience, they saw a need for a service: litigation insurance. It’s now available in New Jersey, through their company Level Insurance.
READ MOREWhen Justin Leto was a young plaintiffs attorney, another lawyer in his building asked how he dealt with the financial risk of pursuing litigation. Could his firm somehow insure legal costs in case the jury returned a defense verdict?
READ MORETwo Miami-based litigators once asked themselves why there was no insurance coverage for attorneys to cover the costs of pursuing a case.
READ MOREWhen David Brill lost a trial for a client who fell off his neighbor’s ladder, it was a rare failure for his three-member Florida law firm. It also cost him $30,000 in expenses since he’d taken the case on contingency, meaning the client paid nothing and he took all the risk.
READ MOREA new insurance product created by two Florida attorneys could help lawyers working on a contingency fee basis manage risk by allowing them to recoup costs if they lose in court.
READ MOREWe’ve all heard of car insurance, but what about case insurance? Well, that’s the basic service being offered by two personal injury lawyers out in Florida who launched their company Level Insurance last month.
READ MOREGarden variety litigation financing has been around quite a while in the personal injury arena. Parties (typically plaintiffs) are given up-front cash in exchange for a portion of their payout from a case when they win. Of late, it has expanded to other lines of practice and warrants keeping an eye on it if you practice in family law or business litigation.
READ MOREBy Daniel Fisher You buy insurance to cover you in case your car crashes. Now lawyers can buy insurance in case their case crashes. It’s another take on a movement that has some academic street cred: Financing plaintiffs so they can persist longer in litigation against corporations and insurance companies that normally have cash and […]
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Lawsuit Cost Financing is issued by Idea Financial, doing business as LevelEsq. Litigation Cost Protection is issued by Level Insurance Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Idea Financial. All products are subject to Idea Financial's final approval. Idea Financial, LevelEsq, Litigation Cost Protection, and Lawsuit Cost Financing are registered trademarks of Idea 247, Inc.
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