On the latest episode of the LFJ Podcast, Steven Shinn, founder of FinLegal, described the solutions his platform provides for both funders and lawyers, and explains his company's points of differentiation with other third party platform providers.

Q: Why move into litigation funding and after-the-event insurance? Can you explain how FinLegal’s offerings are different than those of traditional funders?

A: Absolutely. I think one of the challenges is that the litigation funding market could grow a great deal. But there are challenges where lawyers don’t necessarily understand litigation funding, and there are a lot more funders that you can go to. So you want to help educate people who are new to litigation funding and ATE about how to access it and how it works.

There are more funders joining, which is increasing the number of claims that get funded. So whereas before you might have only had funders looking to deploy $5 million to a claim, you now find situations where there are funders who want to deploy as little as $100,000 or less. So there’s a much broader range of funders...and it’s hard to go to all of them individually and it’s hard to know who’s in the market.

We thought, let’s build a sticky platform which provides the law firm with visibility and control over those funding requests, and let’s give them an online process (to write the best possible funding request) in terms of how it’s positioned to the funders so that it does get funding. With lots of funders to navigate, let’s build a platform to help lawyers navigate them, help them understand it—and let’s help them put forward the request with the best possible positioning.

Q: You mentioned getting involved in group actions (the UK version of US-style class actions). What got you interested in that space particularly, and does your technology background in any way penetrate that space?

A: Definitely. It started out as me seeing the VW group claim, and also seeing cartel claims, price-fixing on football shirts, and things like this. With my technology background, I thought ‘Well, how are law firms doing this?’

I saw that they had a lot of off-line case management platforms, they use a lot of spreadsheets. You know these systems didn’t talk to each other. There’s a lot of manual effort and no mobile interfaces for claimants to interact with the law firm. So I thought, ‘We can build a platform that will enable that.’ Essentially, we’d be taking a completely fresh look at it. With a technology and software development background and a product development background. How do we build/provide something that enables lawyers to spend the least time possible working with each claim. We know that’s important to the economics of the claim—not having to spend a lot of manual effort on each claim.

So that’s what we produced, a solution that works on a management by exception basis, so essentially the claimant goes through an automated set of steps. And where they fall out of those steps or where they don’t meet certain criteria, only then do they need to get picked up by the law firm.

Q: I know you offer a claim automation solution, can you explain what this solution does?

A: The main benefit of the solution is that it increases the volume of clients. So what you tend to find, is if there’s a bad claimant experience, people fall out of the process. You’ve spent money on acquiring that claimant, you spend advertising pounds or dollars to get them into your funnel, to start working with them. But they become disenfranchised from your process, right? Or they don’t like getting a lot of phone calls, or they feel like the process is insecure and it happens via Email without clear instruction. So if you have a good online process, it increases the volume of clients. That’s the first thing.

And it reduces the amount of time spent per client also, because...the law firm is only working with clients who fall out of the automated process. It’s also plug-n-play, so if you want to start work on a new type of matter it might be that this week you’re building a book of emissions claimants, and the following week you want to launch a shareholder claim.

You can launch that from the platform in a matter of days and start book building. You’re not having to have lots of different contractors and different systems that you have to modify to start doing something new or different. You talk to us, we set it up for you, and then you manage it through an interface that you’re very familiar with.

Legal-Bay, the premier Pre Settlement Funding Company, announced today that over 150 lawsuits have been filed in the Astroworld tragedy that took place at Houston's NRG Stadium last month. The event was sponsored by Live Nation and intended to be a showcase for rapper Travis Scott. Unfortunately, however, the day took a darker turn when attendees rushed the stage causing numerous injuries, and in the case of ten people, death. Over a dozen law firms representing approximately 600 plaintiffs have filed premise liability and gross negligence suits against Scott, concert promoter Live Nation, and numerous other businesses including venue staff and security of NRG, along with first-aid providers that were hired to attend to injured fans. Plaintiffs claim that security and medical services were inadequate, leading to a predictable and preventable catastrophe. Safety measures could and should have been put in place in order to avoid the carnage that occurred, but instead, numerous corners were cut at almost every step. Concertgoers soon found themselves in an environment they had no control over, leading to the hundreds of injuries and tragic deaths that took place. Plaintiffs allege that there was a lack of crowd management even though official plans stated that this was necessary, lending weight to the negligence charges being brought against the defendants. Reportedly, there wasn't even a strategy for a crowd surge, even though comparable problems had occurred during Astroworld's preceding event held in 2019. In Scott's case, it might be even more difficult for him to claim he had no idea a crowd crush would happen since his own concerts have had other similar incidents, a fact which the venue and event organizers of this year's Astroworld were most certainly already aware. In 2015, he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after he flay-out told a Chicago audience to ignore security and rush the stage. Chris Janish, CEO, commented on the situation, "We are expecting many more of these unfortunate large scale personal injury events in 2022 now that larger events are being planned following the Covid hiatus. To our knowledge, we are the only company funding Astroworld plaintiffs at this time. Our staff is familiar with cases of this nature and can evaluate quickly for victims who are in need of cash now." If you have an existing lawsuit and need a loan on lawsuit against your impending case settlement, Legal-Bay may be able to assist you immediately. To apply online, please visit us HERE or call the company's toll-free hotline at 877.571.0405. Even outside the Astroworld tragedy, Legal-Bay has seen a flood of new premise liability filings in 2021, and their team is prepared to keep up with the demand. They're one of the leading lawsuit loan funding companies in the industry, and offer a lightning-fast approval process. A good thing, considering there's been a noticeable backlog in the courts due to Covid delays and court closures in response to the pandemic. Rather than wait indefinitely until cases get settled, Legal-Bay believes plaintiffs shouldn't be left waiting for the money they have coming to them. They have expanded their premise liability and personal injury departments in order to accommodate litigants who would rather opt for presettlement funding. Applications are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and funding is awarded based on the merits of your particular situation. The legal concept of premise liability is used in certain personal injury cases if the injury involved was caused by a property owner's failure to ensure his property is safe. To win a premise liability case, the injured person needs to prove that their injuries were caused by unsafe conditions as a direct result of the property owner's negligence to suitably maintain the property. However, just because you were injured on someone's property doesn't automatically mean that the property owner is liable. Proof will need to be provided showing the property owner was aware of the unsafe conditions on his premises and failed to take action to rectify an unsafe situation. That being the case, you may be entitled to compensation. If you are involved in an active personal injury or premise liability lawsuit and need an immediate cash advance against an impending lawsuit settlement, please visit Legal-Bay HERE or call toll-free at 877.571.0405. Legal-Bay is one of the market's premier funders. If you've previously been denied by other funding companies, you might want to give Legal-Bay a try. More often than not, they'll be able to refinance your rate at a lower cost than other funders, with an added bonus of getting you more money. Anyone that has an existing lawsuit and needs cash now can apply for loan settlement funding to help get through their financial crises. Legal-Bay funds all types of premise liability loans for lawsuits including personal injury, slips and falls, car accidents, construction site accidents, work-related injuries, injuries incurred due to negligent business practices or lack of maintenance on private property, and more. Legal-Bay's pre settlement funding programs are designed to provide immediate cash in advance of a plaintiff's anticipated monetary award. The non-recourse law suit loans—sometimes referred to as loans for lawsuit or loans on settlement—are risk-free, as the money doesn't need to be repaid should the recipient lose their case. Therefore, the lawsuit loans aren't really loans, but rather cash advances. To apply for lawsuit funding right now, please visit the company's website HERE or call toll-free at: 877.571.0405 where agents are standing by.