Lines of credit and term loans built around how plaintiff firms actually work — irregular settlement timing, contingency fees, and case-by-case capital needs. No cookie-cutter terms.
Contingency-fee firms have a specific capital problem: revenue arrives in lumps when cases settle, but overhead runs monthly. Traditional bank lending doesn't understand this — banks see irregular deposits and revenue that can't be projected the way a professional service firm's monthly retainers can. Attorney lending from Instabridge is structured around the plaintiff-firm business model. We evaluate your case portfolio (settlement history, active docket, average case cycle) instead of asking for personal guarantees on a standard commercial line.
Introductory call, portfolio review (case docket, settlement history, cash-flow patterns), custom line structure. We can typically move from first call to funded line in 2–4 weeks. Terms are based on your firm's docket profile, not on a rate card. Draws happen on demand.
Banks evaluate contingency firms through a commercial-lending lens that doesn't fit — they see irregular deposits as instability. We evaluate the same firm through a portfolio lens: how consistently does your docket settle, what's your average case cycle, what's the aging profile of your active cases. Firms that don't qualify for traditional bank credit routinely qualify with us.
Depends on the structure. Portfolio-secured lines can be non-recourse to the firm's principals. Larger term loans typically involve some form of personal guarantee. We're transparent about which structures require what before you spend time on due diligence.
Yes, and it's the most common use — case costs (experts, depositions, trial prep, filing fees) that will be reimbursed from settlements. We can also fund general working capital, but firms typically appreciate that the line's structure fits case-cost timing naturally.
Firms with less than 2 years of settlement history, firms with heavy defense-side revenue mix, and firms with concentrated docket risk (one or two very large cases with no supporting portfolio) — but even in these cases we'll tell you honestly what would need to change.
Independent products. Attorney lending is for the firm; pre-settlement funding is for the plaintiff. Some firms use us for both; many use us for only one. Our attorney-lending underwriting is not affected by whether your firm's clients use our plaintiff funding.