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‘Fire power’ given to Schreuders with help of alternate solution
Sydney personal injury firm, Schreuders Compensation Lawyers, has been able to give its matters “real fire power” by incorporating a unique solution into its practice.
Emma Musgrave
The Sydney-based boutique has been using disbursement funding to gain immediate access to any independent expert reports it may require in matters, without having to complete an upfront payment. This includes medico-legal reports, radiology reports, court appearance and filing fees, barrister fees and many others.
“The average case will typically have about $4,000 to $6,000 of disbursements. If your cases aren’t funded, then you’re punching with one hand tied behind your back.
“Before using disbursement funding, this would typically result in clients getting less reports from experts. This limited the case’s potential as we wouldn’t have access to the level of evidence required to materially strengthen a case. Conversely, with disbursement funding, a client can get access to the experts needed to substantiate a claim. This allows you to present the case as it really is, and know you’re doing the best for the client by realising the correct value of their claim by being able to quantify the claim to the insurer.”
According to Anthony Hersch, general manager of JustKapital Disbursement Funding, disbursement funding is described as the provision of finance for third-party costs (disbursements) that form part of any litigation.
“The reason this financial solution is powerful is that it allows the law firm to defer payment until settlement (or up to 30 months – whichever comes first),” he said.
“Being released of immediate cash flow restrictions is significant: it removes the primary road block for claimants being able to source the type and/or volume of independent expert reports necessary to substantiate a case that otherwise may be cost-prohibitive.”
Mr Hersch noted that while a lot of firms equate the value of disbursement funding with saving money or reallocating working capital, it can also be used to give cases real “fire power”, like it has done with Schreuders.
“Disbursement funding is a practice that’s well-established and widely adopted internationally, and is geared to assist SME law firms, personal injury law firms, commercial litigation firms and family law firms,” Mr Hersch added.
“There’s a continual uptake of the financial solution to get access to the range of reports required to progress a case. This in itself generates more revenue as it enables firms to take on additional cases while being released of capital constraints.
“We encourage SME law firms to take advantage of this smart alternative.”
Emma Musgrave
Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
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