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What We Do

By providing customized private capital solutions across the legal finance industry, our investors enjoy access to an uncorrelated asset class with an attractive risk/return profile.

Our Services

Excelsior Equity Partners (“Excelsior”) focuses on investment banking and private equity opportunities across the legal finance industry.

We offer a curated platform of well-vetted, active investment solutions with a keen focus on collateral coverage, due diligence and risk modeling. Each year, Excelsior creates customized, strategic portfolios tailored to capitalize on the rapidly evolving legal finance industry and meet the needs of a broad range of investors. Excelsior’s experience in sourcing and constructing transactions is a significant advantage the company offers to investors and law firms alike.

We provide private capital solutions to an industry typically avoided by commercial banks who are often unable to access traditional sources of capital.  Our expertise in the legal finance sector – especially in litigation finance – means we can execute highly-customizable transactions secured by both common and esoteric asset types.

Our Expertise

The legal industry is opaque by nature with much of the revenues covered under confidential settlement agreements with contingency fees & non-recourse debt held off balance sheet. It can be difficult to forecast value ranges without a large set of market data to model from.

Through its unrivaled network of law firms and legal services providers, Excelsior has aggregated the largest first-party dataset in the industry, providing our investors with unprecedented clarity and transparency. We partner exclusively with top law firms and vendors with proven leadership and demonstrated performance results.

Transaction Characteristics
  • Transaction size of $5 million to $50 million
  • Lead or Co-Invest
  • Maturities of 1-4 years
  • Structured Equity, Debt, or Hybrid
  • IRR commensurate with risk and asset type
  • Geography: US only
  • Mass tort, personal injury, commercial and IP litigation (LitFin)
  • Single Case or Portfolio
  • Post-revenue, growth phase companies (PE)
  • High-touch approach with active portfolio management
  • Full data transparency required
Litigation Funding

Pre-Settlement
Excelsior manages strategy specific portfolios focused on asset generation in pre-settlement litigations including single event, mass tort, and intellectual property.

Post-Settlement
Excelsior offers liquidity to both law firms and clients who require quicker access to funds for settled judgments pending settlement disbursements.

Secondary Transactions

Excelsior actively participates in the evolution of existing litigation finance transactions. This involvement is designed to accommodate the needs of litigation funders, asset managers, and investors seeking liquidity. Our engagement options include reducing minority stakes, complete asset sales, refinancing facilities, co-investment opportunities, and other customized structures aimed at addressing capital or risk management objectives.

Consumer Settlement Funding (Portfolio Only)

Excelsior provides settlement advance funding (both pre & post settlement) to plaintiffs within our legal assets portfolio.

Private Credit / Special Situations

Excelsior aims to create customized, structured transactions tailored to meet the needs of each borrower, yet also developed with a keen focus on collateral coverage, due diligence and risk modeling.

Private Equity – Law Firms

Due to unique ownership regulations and market inefficiencies, law firms have historically faced challenges in accessing private equity markets. Excelsior has the necessary infrastructure and capital supply to acquire equity interests in medium to large-sized law firms.

Private Equity – Legal Services & Technology

Excelsior’s venture capital practice takes equity positions in early stage (post-revenue) and growth phase companies that provide services to the broader legal industry.

Managing Risk

A well designed and diversified portfolio has the potential to offer attractive returns while minimizing risk, but the market is not simple. The process of identifying, structuring and underwriting a private equity transaction is complicated, variable and not a one-size-fits-all process.

In recent years, numerous investors and fund managers have ventured into the market, only to encounter the complexities and expenses associated with asset generation, compliance, quality control, risk management, and supervision. For those seeking to enjoy the advantages of the legal finance market without the burden of overseeing their own investment platform, Excelsior offers a comprehensive solution.

Our robust risk management framework considers over 25 key dimensions of risk mitigation, including:

  • Financial Risk
  • Concentration Risk
  • Market Risk
  • Regulatory Compliance Risk
  • Headline Risk
  • Reputational Risk
  • Duration Risk
  • Interest Rate Risk
  • Bankruptcy Risk
  • Key Man Risk
  • Liquidity Risk
  • Jurisdictional Risk
  • Forum Risk
  • Scientific Development Risk
  • Pandemic Risk
  • Competitive Risk
  • Inflation Risk
  • Taxation Risk
  • Technology & Cybersecurity Risk
  • Legal Risk
  • Data Privacy Risk
  • Operational Risk
  • Ethical Risk
  • Third-party Risk
  • Quality Control Risk