What Is the Difference Between Attorney Funding and Plaintiff Funding?

Plaintiff funding goes directly to the injured party against their pending claim. Attorney funding provides working capital or case-cost financing to the law firm itself. These are distinct products with different structures.

Plaintiff pre-settlement funding is issued directly to the plaintiff — the injured individual — against their pending legal claim. It is non-recourse: if the case is lost, the plaintiff owes nothing. The advance is secured by the expected settlement proceeds. Repayment is made from the plaintiff's share of the settlement at closing, handled by the attorney.

Attorney funding, also called law firm capital or case-cost financing, goes to the law firm rather than the plaintiff. Law firms handling contingency cases often have significant out-of-pocket expenses — expert witnesses, medical records, depositions, travel, filing fees — that accumulate over the life of a case. Attorney funding covers these costs, with repayment from case proceeds when cases resolve.

The risk structure differs between the two products. Plaintiff funding is underwritten case by case, based on the merits of the individual claim. Attorney funding is typically underwritten against the law firm's portfolio of cases — the aggregate expected recovery across multiple matters — rather than any single case outcome. Some law firm capital lines are structured as revolving credit facilities, similar to a business line of credit.

From the plaintiff's perspective, attorney funding does not affect their advance eligibility. A plaintiff can seek their own pre-settlement advance regardless of whether their attorney's firm has a capital line. The two products operate independently. Criterica Capital offers both products to serve the full capital stack of litigation finance.

Source: ALFA Consumer Litigation Funding Code of Conduct distinguishes consumer litigation funding (plaintiff-facing) from commercial litigation finance (law firm and portfolio-facing).

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