Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: So I'm a disbarred lawyer and I say that everywhere I go. I don't wear with the badge of honor. It's actually embarrassing and something that never should have happened. But I'm not afraid to talk about it because we all make mistakes in life and this was mine. But learning the ethics of that is how we got to ClaimAngel. Because as a lawyer, you are responsible for doing for your clients the best you can in funding. That means getting them the lowest rate you know about and giving them multiple options, not just your friend down the street who has a funding company. So the ethical and fiduciary duties you have borne Claim angel into a marketplace because we protect those duties by having 27 funders and the lowest rate. And every lawyer in the country, literally under the ethics rule, should be using Claim angel for funding.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: Most firms survive.
The best ones scale.
Welcome to the Managing Partners podcast where law firm leaders learn to think bigger.
I'm Kevin. Daisy.
Let's jump in.
What's up everyone? Here at Law de Graw, we got the Managing Partners podcast and Spaghetti on the Wall podcast with Armando Leduc. Here at Law de Gras, we got Jeremy from Claim angel interested to hear more about his business and what's going on. Thanks for joining me.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: Thank you. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: Cool. So based out of Miami.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: Tell us about ClaimAngel.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: ClaimAngel is the first litigation funding marketplace in the United States. Actually in the world. We are the uber ebay of litigation funding. Litigation funding has always been for clients. Very expensive, predatory, gray, opaque. You got an adjective, you can throw it in there for the industry. And it's been that way for 30 years.
It's never been disrupted, it's never been challenged. And funding companies are able to charge 100, 200 plus percent a year for a non recourse funding on a case, which seems a little crazy. Of course there's some risk, so the rate's a little higher. But what we've done is create a marketplace where claimants or their attorneys can send their case for funding with some information. It gets underwritten on the platform by 27 funding companies. We have 27 funding companies. We are not a funding company. Very important. But the 27 funding companies fund at one set rate of 27.8% with a 2x cap. And there's not an entity in the country that can come near that rate.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: We've democratized it, we've made it tech savvy so that we take all the middle out and we do all the work. So all the funding company has to do is click a button and all the lawyer has to do with their client is give us the info.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Wow, that's amazing. That's awesome.
How long has Claim angel been around?
[00:02:45] Speaker A: We started in April of 2023.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Okay. So not too long.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: Yeah. And we've got 18,000 fundings done, plus now, and it's. It's going very fast.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: That's excellent. So what was kind of that spark, that moment to say, hey, this is an opportunity. This is the business that we can get into?
[00:03:04] Speaker A: That's a story. You want it?
[00:03:06] Speaker B: All right, everyone, you got enough time?
[00:03:08] Speaker A: It's a good story if you're a lawyer. So I was a practicing attorney for 20 plus years.
I went through a ethics challenge by the Florida bar because my firm, under my stewardship, my fault, used trust money to pay operating bills when things were bad and it shouldn't happen and it's my fault. And I went through a five year bar case and learned everything there was to learn about the ethics rules.
And when I went through that, I ended up winning the lower case, but then getting disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court. So I'm a disbarred lawyer and I say that everywhere I go. I don't wear with the badge of honor. It's actually embarrassing and something that never should have happened, but I'm not afraid to talk about it because we all make mistakes in life and this was mine.
But learning the ethics of that is how we got to claim Angel. Because as a lawyer, you are responsible for doing for your clients the best you can in funding. That means getting them the lowest rate you know about and giving them multiple options, not just your friend down the street who has a funding company. So the ethical and fiduciary duties you have borne claim angel into a marketplace because we protect those duties by having 27 funders and the lowest rate. And every lawyer in the country, literally under the ethics rule, should be using Claim angel for funding.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: Well, I appreciate you staring that. You know, it's transparency. Right.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: It's one of our core values at my show. Yeah, yeah.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: And not always easy thing to do, but I love that you tell that story and lean into it and you know, you're happy to share that, but.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: I don't know about happy.
I share it because it's true and I really screwed up. But. But happy. I would be happier if I would have done everything right, you know, but it's okay. So.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: But it's led you to see an opportunity.
[00:04:48] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:04:48] Speaker B: You're. You're helping people in the.
[00:04:50] Speaker A: I'm leaning into that.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: Yeah. And you know, the folks that you, you were helping me for, now you're able to help more of those folks.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: That's correct. Yeah. So see, you got that.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: That's good.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: I like that.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: The whole story is coming around now.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: I know he's great at this. Yeah.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: That's what we do here at L Growth.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: I see that.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: And on the podcast, so. Well, so what's. I mean, obviously sounds like you guys are fast paced, you're moving along. What's kind of the future look like?
[00:05:13] Speaker A: What's.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: What's kind of next for you guys?
[00:05:15] Speaker A: Yeah. So we are partnering with law firms around the country where they are sending their clients exclusively to Claim angel to protect their ethical fiduciary duties.
Firms like Morgan and Morgan, Bob Simon's firm, who's hosting Law de Gras, Mike Morris's firm, Wilshire Laud of La Lerner and Rowe, Farah and Farah, they send all of their funding clients to us to protect themselves. And the future is to build on that momentum. We have not done any marketing. I did Jen Gore's podcast recently and that was the first type of marketing we've done. So we're going to do a marketing campaign coming up here to educate people on why funding actually can be used as a tool to fight insurance companies as opposed to a predatory thing to hurt. Because time, as you know, time is power. It's the one damn thing we can't buy. You can't buy time. But here we can kind of buy time by giving your clients enough money to pay their bills, giving you time, the lawyer to settle the case for the right amount. So in some ways, we buy a little time.
[00:06:10] Speaker B: That's excellent.
I love it, man. I love everything about it. It's sounds like a interesting business. Sounds like a lot of growth coming your way.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: It's cool when, when firms like Morgan and Morgan and Bob and others, you know, mandate their firm use it, it says a lot. And, and when. When the biggest firm in the country does it and then the next biggest firms do it, it's saying something about the ethics of it.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: But there's so many of the smaller firms that they don't know about it.
[00:06:34] Speaker A: So hopefully this podcast can help get. They need it. Yeah, they can get to claimangel.com they can call us whatever they want. But it really is. I learned so much about ethics from what I went through that I didn't know before. And they.
It's the next frontier of ethical problems, in my opinion. I really believe that. So, you know, the ABA rules, the state rules, they all mandated. So it's great that we can, with you, help get the word out.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: Excellent. Well, you heard it here. Go check out Claim Angel.
If you're just starting your PI Firm or you've been in business for a while, you need to know about these things and reach out and connect them.
[00:07:08] Speaker A: So appreciate it.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: Thank you very much coming on the show.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: We'll see you soon. All right. Thanks, Sam.
