Indicative and educational only. This is not a credit decision, quote, or offer of capital. Actual facility terms depend on case-level file review, collections history, attorney track record, jurisdiction mix, and lender-specific underwriting criteria.
The calculator starts with gross pipeline value (cases × average fee), then discounts it for stage — early-stage cases are worth less to a lender than cases nearing resolution — and again for case-type complexity, since longer-duration, higher-variance matters carry more timing risk.
Facility size is also capped by a multiple of monthly operating burn, reflecting the firm's operating scale and ability to service a facility independent of any single case outcome. Whichever constraint is lower — docket value or burn-based ceiling — binds.
Lenders view a docket's capacity as a shared pool, not a per-facility allowance. Existing secured debt is subtracted directly from the pre-debt capacity to arrive at the incremental room available.
How reliably the firm has historically converted expected fees into actual collected fees — not just what a case was worth on paper.
Win rates, settlement patterns, and case-management history for the specific attorneys handling the docket — this calculator has no visibility into that history.
Where cases are filed affects both duration and the predictability of resolution, independent of case type alone.
A docket dependent on a small number of large cases carries different risk than one spread across many smaller matters, even at the same total value.
Whether case costs are firm-funded, funded by a third party, or shared changes how much of the eventual fee is actually available to service debt.
How frequently and reliably the firm can report docket status affects how much a lender is willing to advance against it.
Common questions about how law firm credit capacity is estimated and what it does and doesn't tell you.
Law firm credit capacity is an estimate of how much revolving capital a plaintiff-side firm could indicatively support against its active docket, given the docket's size, composition, stage, and the firm's operating burn and existing debt. It is not a loan amount, an approval, or an offer — it is an educational estimate of the factors a lender or funder would examine.
Contingency fee receivables are not treated at face value. Lenders discount the docket for case stage (early-stage cases are less certain than cases in active discovery or later), practice area mix and duration risk, and then apply an advance rate against that risk-adjusted value — similar in spirit to how a factoring or asset-based lender treats accounts receivable, but adjusted for the outcome uncertainty specific to contingency fee litigation.
Yes. A docket concentrated in longer-duration, higher-variance matters — commercial disputes, mass tort, complex multi-party litigation — typically supports a smaller advance rate against its face value than a docket of shorter-cycle personal injury and auto claims, because timing and outcome variance are higher. This does not mean complex matters are worth less; it means their capital is recognized differently.
Capacity is an indicative range describing what a docket and balance sheet profile could plausibly support. An approved facility amount is the outcome of full underwriting — case-level file review, collections history, attorney track record, jurisdiction mix, and lender-specific credit policy. The two can differ meaningfully in either direction.
No. This tool is educational. It runs a simplified, transparent formula on the inputs you provide and does not access any case file, credit report, or underwriting system. No data you enter is submitted to Criterica Capital. For an actual facility discussion, apply directly or contact our team.