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Daniel Digiaimo, the CEO and founder of Baker Street Funding tells how his company is setting a benchmark in the legal funding industry

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Daniel Digiaimo, the CEO and founder of Baker Street Funding tells how his company is setting a benchmark in the legal funding industry

October 15
04:50 2019

After working in financial services for more than 12 years, Mr. Digiaimo started his own litigation funding firm, Baker Street Funding in 2018. Backed by an experienced team of partners and professionals, the company is a pioneer in the field of litigation finance. They provide plaintiffs with much-needed liquidity while they await the settlement of their legal claim. The company offers a diversified risk profile, strategic partnerships with major market players, and an experienced investor base which helps set them apart from the competition.

Mr. DiGiaimo has worked in wealth management, running his own financial advisory teams at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. We got in touch with him to learn more about his journey from financial services into the legal funding industry and his company, Baker Street Funding.

Interviewer: Give us a brief about your background and career journey so far?

Mr. Digiaimo: After working in financial services for more than 12 years, Mr. Digiaimo started his own litigation funding firm, Baker Street Funding in 2018. Backed by an experienced team of partners and professionals, the company is a pioneer in the field of litigation finance. They provide plaintiffs with much-needed liquidity while they await the settlement of their legal claim. The company offers a diversified risk profile, strategic partnerships with major market players, and an experienced investor base which helps set them apart from the competition.

Mr. DiGiaimo has worked in wealth management, running his own financial advisory teams at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. We got in touch with him to learn more about his journey from financial services into the legal funding industry and his company, Baker Street Funding.

Interviewer: Describe your experience working with financial firms? 

Mr. Digiaimo: So, I started working in wealth management when I was right out of college. Initially, I worked with a great team as a junior partner and learned how to provide the white glove service that we use today at Baker Street. After spending a long time working at Merrill and Morgan, I realized that there were a lot of limitations in what their clients could invest in. There was not an option on their platforms for a truly negatively correlated alternative investment. I believe legal funding is going to be the next big thing in alternative assets and that in a few years you will see firms like mine offering products through large investment banking platforms.

Interviewer: What inspired you to start Baker Street Funding?

Mr. Digiaimo: I started Baker Street Funding for two reasons, the first is that I saw a market that was not being serviced properly and efficiently. No one was treating plaintiffs like people and there was no compassion or understanding in the application and underwriting process with any of my competitors. We decided to take the same service model that I used for my high net worth investment clients and apply it to our attorney and plaintiff relationships. The second reason I started the firm was because of what I mentioned above, I think that legal funding is a growing industry and it makes for an extremely efficient non-correlated investment in any portfolio. If the markets and the economy take a turn for the worse, the legal funding industry will double overnight. Every investor is looking for that kind of portfolio protection.

Interviewer: What makes you stand out from your competitors? 

Mr. Digiaimo: One thing you will hear me say a lot, and something I have said already in this interview, is that our service model is very important to us. We provide a high level of care for the clients and attorneys we work with and we make sure that we are staying in constant contact and always there to act as a problem solver for them. This may mean taking calls at night and working weekends, but the experience we provide at Baker Street Funding is second to none in the litigation funding space. One thing that bothers me with my competitors is that they will take all the time in the world to approve a financing request. It leaves the plaintiff and the attorney waiting days, if not weeks, for an answer. We pride ourselves on our 24 hour turnaround time and whenever possible, we look to close funding requests out as quickly as possible.

Interviewer: How does your company work?

Mr. Digiaimo: The funding process is pretty simple. A plaintiff or attorney will contact us and let us know that they need leverage on a specific case, or sometimes a portfolio of cases. From there, we will analyze the case files, speak to counsel about the direction, scope and scale of the case and then we will render a funding decision. If the applicant is approved, we generate a contract to put a lien on the process of the settlement. The lien will be repaid, along with a risk-adjusted rate of return, by the attorney, on behalf of the plaintiff, when the settlement check arrives. We fund all types of settled and pre-settled cases, so our rates and fees are adjusted on a per case basis to make sure the plaintiff is getting the best rate possible, while we are getting the right amount of return for our risk exposure.

Interviewer: Tell us about your recently launched Attorney funding division?

Mr. Digiaimo: Yea, we recently started an attorney funding division. This fund focuses on contingency fee-based practitioners and helps them leverage the receivables they have coming in, in the form of legal fees, to help them get immediate liquidity to pay for either business expenses or pay for the cost of new litigation. We launched the fund about a month ago and are having quite a bit of success. We are averaging at least two firms or solo practitioners reaching out to us a day to learn more about our process. The mechanics behind attorney funding are extremely similar to our plaintiff funding division, so we can analyze a portfolio of cases and have a line of credit open for the attorney in about 48 hours.

Interviewer: What are your company’s plans for the near future?

Mr. Digiaimo: We plan to keep growing and exploring new avenues of space. We have had some great success with our plaintiff funding division and will continue to expand our relationships with plaintiffs and their attorneys. We may be raising some additional capital in the not so distant future but for now, we are focused on deploying the capital we have on hand into strong cases with favorable outcomes for everyone invested.

Interviewer: How can one apply for funding from your company?

Mr. Digiaimo: You can learn more about us or apply for funding over the phone or on our website at bakerstreetfunding.com

Media Contact
Company Name: Baker Street Funding
Contact Person: Daniel Digiaimo
Email: Send Email
Country: United States
Website: bakerstreetfunding.com