How David Beats Goliath: Access to Capital for Contingent-Fee Law Firms addresses
a little-known but critical flaw in America’s system of justice. Average
citizens and workers who have been injured or wronged through negligence or
malfeasance are guaranteed their day in court. In practice, however, this
bedrock legal right is compromised. The problem is a paucity of fair and
reasonable funding for expenses incurred in the bringing of personal-injury
and other lawsuits. Writing for trial attorneys who represent middle-class or
even indigent clients, author and finance expert Michael J. Swanson outlines
this complex problem in a clear and lucid book that every dedicated trial
lawyer should own. “By temperament, training and the long traditions of their
profession, contingent-fee lawyers often fail to maximize the business needs
of their practices,” says Swanson, “They especially fail to understand and
control the cost of their capital structure.”