How David Beats Goliath: Access to Capital for Contingent-Fee Law Firms addresses a little-known but critical flaw in America’s system of justice. Average citizens and workers who have been injured or wronged through negligence or malfeasance are guaranteed their day in court. In practice, however, this bedrock legal right is compromised. The problem is a paucity of fair and reasonable funding for expenses incurred in the bringing of personal-injury and other lawsuits. Writing for trial attorneys who represent middle-class or even indigent clients, author and finance expert Michael J. Swanson outlines this complex problem in a clear and lucid book that every dedicated trial lawyer should own. “By temperament, training and the long traditions of their profession, contingent-fee lawyers often fail to maximize the business needs of their practices,” says Swanson, “They especially fail to understand and control the cost of their capital structure.”