AEQUIFIN’s New AI Tool Is Transforming How Lawsuits Get Funded

For most people, litigation funding has always meant waiting. Weeks of back-and-forth, documents sent to anonymous analysts, no clear timeline, no transparent answer. For ordinary claimants without deep pockets or the backing of a major law firm, access to funding was often out of reach. 

Now, AEQUIFIN is changing that with a new AI-powered tool that can reduce a process that once took months to just minutes, making litigation funding accessible to far more people than before. It introduces a completely new approach to the case inquiry process, making it faster, simpler and more accessible. 

At a Glance

• AEQUIFIN uses AI to assess litigation funding eligibility within minutes.
• The tool makes litigation funding more accessible to individuals and smaller businesses.
• Legal costs and required funding amounts are calculated automatically.
• Each case is assessed based on success probability, counterparty and collectability.
• Claimants face no repayment obligation if a funded case is unsuccessful.

What Is Litigation Funding and Why Is It Suddenly Everywhere?

Litigation funding is exactly what it sounds like. A third party covers the costs of a lawsuit, including attorney fees, court costs and expert witnesses, in exchange for a share of the proceeds if the case succeeds. If the claimant loses, the funder absorbs the loss entirely and the claimant pays nothing.

The model has been around for decades, but the scale has changed dramatically. Litigation finance has grown from a relatively niche concept into a multi-billion-dollar global industry. Today, hedge funds, pension funds and specialized legal finance firms are putting significant capital into litigation. Burford Capital, one of the industry’s biggest players, reported a portfolio of more than $7 billion in 2024. What was once a small corner of the legal market has become an established industry and continues to grow.

A few factors are driving this growth. Legal costs continue to rise, making it increasingly difficult even for well-resourced businesses to fund lengthy disputes themselves. At the same time, more individuals and companies are realizing that a strong legal claim should not have to be abandoned simply because the upfront costs are too high. Technology is also playing a growing role. AI is making it faster and less expensive to assess cases, helping legal finance become accessible to people and businesses that previously had few options.

The global market reflects this momentum. And as awareness grows, so does the number of people asking a question that was once unthinkable for most: can I get funding for my legal case?

The Problem With the Old System

The traditional litigation funding process was built for institutions, not individuals. A claimant would approach a funding firm, submit their documents and then wait. Senior analysts would manually review the case, assess its legal merits, evaluate the opposing party’s ability to pay and eventually make a decision, often weeks or even months later.

For large commercial cases worth tens of millions of dollars, that timeline was manageable. For smaller claimants with legitimate but less complex cases, it created a major barrier. The cost of manual due diligence made many small and mid-sized cases unattractive to traditional funders. As a result, people with strong legal claims but limited resources were often left without access to funding, not because their cases were weak, but because the system was never designed with them in mind.

AI is now dismantling that wall.

Can I Get Funding for My Legal Case?

The short answer: it depends on three things.

First, your case needs a realistic chance of success. Litigation funders are investors. They evaluate legal merit carefully, and cases with unclear liability or weak evidence rarely qualify.

Second, your opponent must be able to pay. Winning a judgment against a party with no assets to recover is not a viable outcome for a funder. The financial strength of the opposing party is a core part of any assessment.

Third, your claim must be monetizable. Litigation funding applies to financial claims where a concrete recovery is possible. Cases seeking only injunctions or declaratory relief without a financial component generally fall outside scope.

If those three conditions are met, the question shifts from whether you can qualify to how quickly you can find out.

Inside AEQUIFIN’s AI-Powered Case Inquiry Tool

AEQUIFIN’s new case inquiry tool is designed to make the first funding assessment faster and easier to understand. Instead of asking claimants to work out complex legal and financial details themselves, the tool guides them through six structured steps. At the end, the AEQUIFIN Index provides an initial assessment of how likely the case is to qualify for funding.

The process adapts to each case from the beginning. The questions change depending on whether the claimant is an individual or a company and whether the goal is financial compensation or legal clarification. This means users only see questions that are relevant to their situation.

One of the most useful features is the automatic cost calculation. Once the claim amount is entered, the tool uses German court fee schedules to estimate the potential costs of the proceedings. This includes attorney fees and court costs for the first and second instance.

From there, the required funding amount is calculated automatically, including a five percent buffer and escrow costs. The final figure is rounded to the nearest thousand euros, so claimants do not have to estimate their funding needs themselves.

The assessment also considers several factors that can determine whether a case is suitable for funding, including:

• the estimated probability of success
• any existing legal assessment of the case
• the type of opposing party
• the counterparty’s creditworthiness
• the relevant jurisdiction and country of venue
• the likelihood that a successful claim can actually be collected

That last point is particularly important. Winning a case has limited value if the opposing party is ultimately unable to pay.

Privacy is also built into the process. Claimants are asked to provide a structured case summary without including personal names, helping minimize the amount of personal data collected. Supporting documents can be uploaded by category and are encrypted.

The final steps connect the assessment with the people involved in the case. Claimants can invite their attorney directly through the tool, but having legal representation is not required to get started. After submission, a preliminary account is created. Once the email address has been confirmed, the full AEQUIFIN Index assessment becomes available.

The result is a complete funding probability read-out in a fraction of the time traditional manual underwriting requires. This is the first release of AEQUIFIN’s AI-powered feature set, with significantly more capabilities planned for the coming months. You can start the process at aequifin.com/en/case-inquiry today.

How Do I Apply for Legal Case Financing?

The application process with AEQUIFIN is entirely self-service. Visit the case inquiry page, answer the structured questions about your claim, opposing party, and legal situation, and upload any supporting documents through the categorized upload channels. The platform calculates your cost risk in real time and provides a funding indication once your email is confirmed.

If your case is a strong fit, AEQUIFIN connects it with sponsors who provide the funding in exchange for a share of the proceeds if the case succeeds. To get a better idea of the types of claims supported on the platform, you can explore currently funded cases in the current cases overview.

There are no upfront fees, no monthly payments, and no financial risk if your case does not succeed.

A System Built for Everyone

For most of legal history, access to high-quality litigation funding was determined less by the strength of a claim and more by who you knew and how much capital stood behind you. That dynamic is shifting.

AI-powered tools like AEQUIFIN’s case inquiry system are making the funding process faster, more transparent, and accessible to a far broader range of claimants. What was once an opaque, institution-only process is becoming something closer to a level playing field.

Technology does not change the law. But it does change who gets to use it.

FAQs

What is litigation funding?

Litigation funding means that a third party covers the costs of your legal case, including attorney fees, court costs, and expert witnesses. In return, the funder receives a share of the proceeds if the case is successful. If the case is unsuccessful, you do not have to repay the funding.

Can I get funding for my legal case as an individual?

Yes. Individuals may qualify for litigation funding if their case has a reasonable chance of success, the opposing party is able to pay and there is a financial claim that can be recovered. With AEQUIFIN’s case inquiry tool, you can get an initial assessment within minutes.

How do I apply for legal case financing?

With AEQUIFIN, you can complete the process online. You provide some basic information about your case, receive an estimate of the potential legal costs and upload any relevant documents securely. After confirming your email, you receive an initial assessment of your funding chances.