AEQUIFIN is a litigation funding platform that supports individual cases, institutional funding arrangements and larger legal projects across a range of areas of law. It serves three types of participants. Litigants, including individuals, businesses and organisations, can seek funding to reduce the financial risk of legal disputes. Lawyers and law firms can submit cases, prepare the information sponsors require and seek funding for litigation mandates. Sponsors can review published cases and fund them under the applicable terms.
Key features and functions include:
Case Enquiry and Preliminary Review
Litigants can submit a case enquiry directly, or a registered lawyer can submit it and invite the client to the platform. Each enquiry goes through an internal preliminary review, and a mandate with a registered lawyer is required before a case can proceed.
Case Concept Preparation
The registered lawyer prepares an anonymised Case Concept that sets out the case objective, the required sponsorship amount and the expected value. The Case Concept is the information basis for sponsors and is published once the case is approved under the platform’s ethical guidelines.
Sponsor Q&A
Before funding begins, sponsors can send questions to the registered lawyer. Answers are published in the Case Concept, and the lawyer can provide additional supporting documents.
AEQUIFIN Quota Balancing
This optional bidding process runs for a term set for each case. During that term, sponsors and litigants can adjust their offers on how proceeds will be distributed. The process sets one uniform quota for all qualified sponsors. The quota can be zero for matters seeking legal clarification and higher for high-risk enforcement.
Sponsorship Options
Sponsors can place bids with or without a minimum quota, set a personal sponsoring limit, and fund single cases or build a portfolio of cases. Bids are confirmed with two-factor authentication.
Contracts and Trust Account Payments
Sponsorship contracts are concluded between the litigant, the registered lawyer and the qualified sponsors. Sponsorship payments go to a trust account on payment request, not to the platform operator.
Case Management and Secure Communication
After funding, the registered lawyer continues to run the case independently and updates sponsors through a secure communication forum. Where applicable, a secure data room holds the relevant case documents.
Supplementary Financing
If the initial funding is not enough, existing sponsors can be asked to contribute more pro rata on unchanged terms, or a separate supplementary Quota Balancing process can be run.
Case Closure and Distribution of Proceeds
Proceeds from a successful case are distributed according to the Quota Balancing and supplementary financing terms. If a case is lost, unused sponsorship funds are refunded to sponsors, and the litigant has no repayment obligation.
Institutional Funding
Companies, institutions and qualified private individuals can arrange funding through confidential or public offers. Funding can come from one sponsor or a consortium, under standardised or individually designed contracts.
Legal Projects
The platform provides infrastructure for managing litigants, attracting sponsors and coordinating proceedings in larger legal projects, including crowdfunding and membership models.
Loading...