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5 Reasons Plaintiffs should Work with an ALFA - Thrivest Link

Legal Funding
by Jason Keen | December 17, 2017 | 0 Comments

What exactly is the ALFA?

The American Legal Finance Association is a trade group that represents leading consumer legal funding companies across the country. The trade group was formed in 2004 with the hopes of ensuring fair, ethical and transparent funding standards within the legal funding industry. To read more about the ALFA you can visit their website.

Why Use an ALFA Member?

If you have come across this article there is a good chance you are one of two people. One, you are a plaintiff facing difficult times due to an ongoing or recent lawsuit. Or two, you are an attorney whose clients are facing difficult times due to an ongoing or recent lawsuit. The underlying common theme here is that lawsuits are stressful and take months if not years to reach either a settlement or court date. And in the legal funding industry, the majority of clients are personal injury or medical malpractice related so there is a good chance that the plaintiff has been injured and out of work with medical and general living bills piling up.

The good news is that legal financing can help these plaintiffs. The better news is that there is a “regulatory body” of sorts in the American Legal Finance Association with the best interests of plaintiffs in mind. So without further ado here are 5 reasons plaintiffs and should only use a lawsuit funding company that is a member of the American Legal Finance Association.

  1. Guaranteed Transparency
    Let’s start with perhaps the most important reason first, guaranteed transparency. All members of ALFA must obtain written acknowledgement from your attorney before funding your case. Yes, involving your attorney is an additional step in the process  but having a legal professional that knows your legal situation better than anyone and one that can examine the funding agreement is of the utmost importance.
  2. You will Receive only what you Need
    Members of the ALFA are not permitted to intentionally over-fund a case. That being said, if you receive funding once, you can apply for funding again. And, being that all of your information is on file it should be much easier the second time around.
  3. No Commissions to Lawyers or Law Firms
    If you are referred to a member of the American Legal Finance Industry it is not because your attorney or law firm is getting a kick back, it is most likely because of our reputation in the industry or our past dealings with your lawyer.
  4. Ethical Standards
    Members of the American Legal Finance Industry maintain the highest ethical standards and fair business practices within the legal funding industry.
  5. Industry Standards
    The ALFA has developed  standardized documentation for funding agreements for use by its members and maintain a comprehensive database (the Investment Management System) of legal funding advances made by ALFA members. ALFA members use this database to avoid potential problem cases and to ensure that cases are not over-funded.