How ARAG Advance helps firms balance their books

This article first appeared in PIC Legal

While our failing courts certainly didn't get the attention they deserved from any of the parties in the run up to the General Election, there's no doubt that reversing their decline will have to be high on the agenda for the new Government.

Problems in the criminal justice system must demand the highest priority, but reducing the backlogs across civil justice has the potential to release many thousands of businesses and families from the economic drag that unresolved legal action inevitably creates.

The challenges these issues have presented for law firms are also significant. The longer it takes to resolve a case, the longer firms have to shoulder the burden of funding disbursement costs.
Very few practices running cases on conditional fee agreements in significant numbers can justify carrying such costs on the firm's balance sheet.

But separate funding solutions can be complex and have become increasingly expensive as interest rates have climbed.
ATE funding solutions can be confusing and often lack transparency, with hefty administration fees or access to funding tied to the use of other services, such as a particular medical reporting agency.

ARAG Advance - funding with no strings attached

Our unique disbursement funding solution offers flexible arrangements based on your firm's specific needs. It's also straightforward and transparent.

ARAG pays disbursement costs directly to the firm, as and when they are incurred. All funded disbursements, including court fees, will be paid within 14 days, even while an application for fee remission is being processed.

We don't insist on compulsory screening and firms aren't tied in to using a particular medical agency.

ARAG Advance doesn't require a credit agreement and there are no inner case limits, loan or drawdown fees.

The value of funding is agreed at the outset and, for all ARAG schemes, our premiums are transparent, proportionate and reasonable.

We also make administration simple for our partner firms, through our gATEway online platform, which makes it easy to request a payment or view the latest position on either your firm's whole account or an individual case. ARAG can even integrate our systems with your own, to make it even easier to manage your caseload and funding with us.

Award-winning funding from an award-winning provider

Last year, we chose to enter ARAG Advance in the Case Funding Provider of the Year category of the prestigious Personal Injury Awards and were very pleased to pick up the winner's trophy. at the ceremony in November.

Our success has been driven by a strong commitment to increase the funding ARAG provides to partners, doubling the number of firms that make use of ARAG Advance and increasing the millions of pounds advanced by more than three and a half times.

While we were delighted that the importance of ARAG Advance was recognised by the judges, ARAG is no stranger to awards and accolades. This award followed a period in which ARAG won the prized Insurance Provider of the Year award three times in 4 years.

ARAG Advance - the smarter, safer, sustainable funding solution

When we first set out to develop a funding solution for our partner firms, we utilised all of the underwriting experience and expertise that ARAG has accumulated over many years of providing market-leading ATE products, to build a serious alternative to the funding solutions previously available to law firms.

Even with all those years of experience designing and providing ATE products and adapting them to meet the ever-changing demands of the market and legal landscape, we could never have predicted the huge volatility we have seen since the first blueprints for ARAG
Advance were laid out.

A global pandemic, a war in Europe and other, huge inflationary pressures that have arisen since we first set out to create a funding solution have taken their toll, but also proven what we set out to achieve.

ARAG Advance isn't just a workable, transparent and competitive funding solution for law firms. Perhaps most important of all, it is a sustainable one.