About Our Company

Since its founding more than a decade ago, LawFinance Group has pioneered the business of litigation and law firm financing by providing innovative funding solutions to attorneys, law firms and their clients.

Today, we are by far the largest investor and lender in the field, with tens of millions of dollars invested in a wide variety of money judgments on appeal and in loans to attorneys, law firm's and plaintiffs seeking greater liquidity.

Our founder, Alan Zimmerman, has over 30 years of professional legal experience, as a business lawyer and a litigator, respectively. He has experience running his own companies. This brings a keen understanding of the business aspects required in order to run a successful law practice. We fully understand the critical importance of cash flow in operating a law practice and recognize the need for liquidity throughout the litigation process.

In addition to our professional funding solutions designed for law firms and attorneys, our EstateFinance™ consumer program offers cash advances to heirs and estate and trust administrators. For more information or an application, please visit http://www.estatefinance.com

About Our People

LawFinance Group is staffed with a team of experienced attorneys, who have a solid understanding of both cases on appeal and the financial issues affecting law practices. As such, they possess far more expertise in assessing the value of a law firm's portfolio and assets than does the typical commercial bank. LawFinance Group fully understands the importance that adequate financing plays in the process of helping law firms grow.

Alan Zimmerman, President and LFG Founder, earned his JD from New York University School of Law in 1967, after receiving his BS in Business from Miami University, Ohio, in 1964. Following his service in the Navy in Vietnam, Alan founded his own law firm in the San Francisco Bay Area. His clients included businesses in manufacturing, high tech, finance, mortgage banking, retailing and franchising. He has served as Vice Chair of the California Bar Business Law Section, and has been a lecturer in continuing education programs for attorneys. He is also an author for Practicing Law Institute and California Continuing Education of the Bar.

Carter Brown, Chief Executive Officer, earned an MBA with honors from the Harvard Business School, an MA in psychology specializing in learning theory from the University of the Pacific, and a BA in Renaissance liberal arts from Raymond College, a cluster college of the University of the Pacific. From 2000 to 2009, Carter served as CEO of Major, Lindsey & Africa. He oversaw the firm’s rapid growth to become the largest legal search firm in the world culminating in a sale of controlling interest in MLA to the Allegis Group, the largest staffing firm in the U.S. Prior to joining MLA, Carter spent 23 years as the CEO of Omega Performance Corporation (Omega) which he co-founded. Omega grew to become the world’s largest provider of risk analysis training and performance consulting services to the banking industry. Before founding Omega, Carter was a consultant with Price Waterhouse & Co. Carter served for a decade on the Board of the University of the Pacific and is the co-author of the book "Service Quality, A Profit Strategy for Financial Institutions" published by Dow Jones-Irwin.

Frank Sabella, Chief Financial Officer, earned his MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago and his B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Frank is also a California licensed CPA. After receiving his MBA, he held various operating and managerial finance positions in technology based companies, including Hewlett Packard. His experience includes controllership roles in the insurance administration industry and he worked as the Finance Director for LeadClick Media, Inc., a subsidiary of Corelogic, Inc. Frank also has extensive small company start-up and management experience, having co-founded two companies and raised venture capital from private sources and the venture funding arm of JP Morgan.

Dryden Liddle, General Counsel, earned his Master of Laws degree from Boston University School of Law, where he graduated in the top 5 of his class. He also received a U.K. law degree from London Guildhall University and a B.A., with honors, in English from the University of York. He is admitted to practice law in California, New York, and England. Mr. Liddle has worked at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, New York, where he worked on large corporate reorganizations, including the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Conseco Finance Corp., an originator and servicer of secured loans. He also has represented banks, private equity firms and other creditors in loan workouts and distressed debt deals. Dryden subsequently founded his own business law practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is actively involved in the California Bar Business Law Section and is Associate Editor of the California State Bar’s Business News publication.

Dan Bush, Underwriting Director, joined Law Finance Group in 2011. Mr. Bush is an experienced appellate attorney responsible for reviewing and underwriting applications for AppealFinance transactions. Prior to becoming a member of the Law Finance team, he served for five years in the Office of Staff Attorneys at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He earned his law degree from Stanford Law School, and obtained an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Dartmouth College.

Pierre Pham, Credit and Underwriting Manager, earned his B.A. in Business Administration in Finance from California State University Fullerton in 1998. He has a solid background in the management and audit of asset-backed and non-traditional commercial credit portfolios and was instrumental in the formation of policies and procedures in the commercial paper conduit group at Deutsche Bank. Prior to joining LFG in 2005, Mr. Pham held positions at Congress Financial and Wells Fargo Foothill. His current responsibilities include the formation of policies and procedures for law firm loans and investments, loan monitoring, loan administration, as well as on-site audits.

Terry Sullivan, Funding Director, earned his B.A. in Political Science from Illinois State University in 1980. After moving to California Mr. Sullivan spent over 20 years working in the Financial Markets both as a broker and in Investor Relations with such firms as First Commodity of Boston, Thompson McKinnon, Prudential Bache, Research Magazine and Stockgroup.com. Mr. Sullivan spent 5 years working with Law Firms and Attorneys developing online and traditional marketing programs with Lawinfo.com. Before joining Law Finance Group, he spent 3 years with PC Guardian selling computer security solutions to Fortune 500 clients and Federal Government Agencies.

Azan Finch, Case Tracking Specialist, earned his B.A., Cum Laude, from the University of Washington. Azan joined LawFinance Group, Inc. in 2010. Azan has overseen the digital archiving of all the company’s historical records. During his time at the Company, he has increased his responsibilities to include researching and monitoring active cases within the portfolio of our existing law firm loans. Azan is conversant in both French and Arabic, and he intends to matriculate as a law school candidate for the 2011 academic year.

Richard Sobol, Funding Director of LawFinance Group, earned his B.S. in Sociology from Bradley University in Illinois. A native of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Mr. Sobol is experienced in real estate investments with a focus on apartment complexes and shopping centers, serving as both investor and real estate sales and management executive catering to large investors, banks and law firms. Prior to joining Law Finance Group, Richard held positions as residential real estate broker, mortgage consultant at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage as well as sales and business development positions for a number of information technology start-up companies.

Robert E. Blair, Funding Director of LawFinance Group, earned his B.A. at California State University, San Francisco with an interdisciplinary major in the social sciences. Mr. Blair is a licensed California real estate broker having extensive experience in commercial real esate finance. Mr. Blair has been a vice president of acquisitions for a public real estate firm, as well as a vice president of real estate lending with a major international bank. In addition, Mr. Blair holds a Community College Teaching Credential in business and finance. Recently, Mr. Blair was a principal in an import/export company conducting business in the People's Republic of China.

Dane Faber, Funding Director of LawFinance Group, earned his J.D from Taft University and a BS in Finance from San Diego State University. Prior to joining Law Finance Group in 2011, Mr. Faber was active in commercial investment real estate specializing shopping centers, office buildings and warehouses at the firm he founded, First California Realty, Inc. While with First California Realty, Inc., he created FCRFinancial, LLC for consulting with distressed real estate market participants working on lease and mortgage modifications. FCR Financial was active in creating real estate investment pools for clients and generated sources of specialized real estate financing. Mr. Faber spent 22 years in the financial services industry working both as a government bond trader/ MBS specialist and as managing director for Morgan, Olmstead, Kennedy and Gardner. His interests include racing sailboats and mountain biking.

Jonathan Owen, Funding Department International Intern of LawFinance Group, earned his British LLB Law Degree from Swansea University, Wales in the U.K.. Prior to joining LFG in 2011, Mr. Owen worked in the Personal Injury Law and Property Law Industry for Secure Law LLP. Jonathan is an avid soccer player having represented his country in international competitions at youth level and playing professionally for two seasons with his hometown club Cardiff City FC. His responsibilities within LFG include initiating and developing relationships with prospective and current clients and providing these clients with financial solutions best meeting their individual requirements.

Sam Goradia, Funding Attorney of Law Finance Group, earned his JD-MBA from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a member of the New York State Bar. He received his BA in Economics from New York University, where he graduated Valedictorian of the College of Arts and Science. He worked as a government lawyer in New York, and after business school, worked in business development in the high tech sector, creating partnerships and alliances. Mr. Goradia advised Internet startups on their business and marketing plans. Most recently, he managed his own private practice law firm in Northern California.