Bridgify
Litigation funding CRM · B2B SaaS · 0 → 1
"How might we enhance the efficiency and accuracy of investment decision-making for litigation funders?"
Overview
The problem
Litigation funders face the challenge of managing complex portfolios of legal cases — tracking investments, forecasting returns, and monitoring case progression — all while relying on a patchwork of manual spreadsheet calculations and scattered data. Bridgify needed to evolve from a narrow case management tool into a holistic platform that made decision-making faster and more accurate.
Highlights
Case Detail
The Case Detail page enables users to track individual case information, including forms, documents, required actions, and litigation status, while also providing direct communication capabilities.
Report
The Report page allows users to select specific case groups to create tables and generate various charts based on that data.
Bridgify Products
The 'More' page showcases all Bridgify products, offering current users a comprehensive view of available services and presenting an opportunity for upselling.
Context
From internal system to SaaS
In 2022, Bridge Legal dramatically expanded — growing from 40 to over 100 people, and the product team from 8 to 22. This growth came with a strategic shift from a case management focus to a broader, holistic legal tech approach, embracing a SaaS model to enhance flexibility and scalability.
Case Management System
Bridge Legal's original internal case management system streamlined data organization and call center operations for client intake. We started from this platform — evolving from our original case management system to a more advanced and strategic operational approach.
Problem
Limited in addressing the diverse, evolving needs of legal tech beyond basic case management
1 — Our platform was exclusively for vendors and co-counsels, with minimal tech requirements.
2 — In the larger litigation finance ecosystem, our focus was solely on case management and intake.
Opportunities
1 — Expand the platform to also address funders and law firms, capturing a wider market in the litigation finance ecosystem.
2 — Develop new features to meet the broader needs of our diverse user base.
Research
Researched through client interviews and testing
1. Target user groups
Users on Excel — One group relies on Excel for workflow management, finding it time-consuming and overwhelming.
Users on Salesforce — Another group uses Salesforce's legal CRM system, finding it over-engineered and excessively complex for their needs.
2. Dashboard is the key
In the complex field of litigation finance, clients need a straightforward way to oversee their portfolios and cases. Dashboards have become essential — offering a clear, comprehensive view that simplifies tracking and decision-making in this intricate industry.
3. Clients value simplicity
Our clients, primarily over 55 and from the legal sector, are not typically tech-savvy and greatly value simplicity in technology — preferring a straightforward, intuitive design that caters to their non-tech-savvy needs.
Audit
Starting from what we already had
Before initiating the redesign, we focused on usability and heuristic issues — targeting aspects that would most enhance user experience and system efficiency.
1 — The top navigation bar, overloaded with more than 11 tabs, became unscalable and cluttered — with unique bars per user group adding rigid technical complexity.
2 — The UI mainly used large boxes for content, leading to inflexibility and low data density.
3 — A limited navigation structure with only two levels resulted in poor navigability.
4 — The overall design style was outdated and misaligned with current branding.
Solution 1
New UI and navigation system
Before — Top Navigation Bar
For an extended period, the platform featured a top nav where each tab represented a distinct, sellable feature to clients — creating a ceiling that couldn't scale.
After — Side Navigation Bar
Switching to a side navigation bar offers greater scalability with more tabs and customizable options. Breadcrumbs and sub-tabs further improve usability and accessibility.
Customizable products — Users can tailor their navigation bar and view detailed information on all available Bridgify products, creating opportunities for upselling while keeping the nav focused.
Solution 2
Report improvement
Before — Low usability
The report view had no grouping or folder structure — all reports lived in a flat list with no way to filter by case group. Users had to scroll back and forth between the data grid and charts, constantly losing context.
After — User-friendly report
Reports are now organized into grouped folders by case group. A split chart and data view lets decision-makers see the visual summary while analysts access granular numbers — all in the same view.
Solution 3
From case management to a litigation finance platform
Before — Case management focus
Three tabs in the system primarily showcased the case database — helpful for case management clients but less effective for others in the ecosystem.
After — Holistic platform
The navigation sequence was rearranged to better suit holistic usage. Three tabs were consolidated into one — simplifying the experience for users with limited domain knowledge.
