Therium’s co-founder, Neil Purslow, has been quoted in the Financial Times article about the growth of Litigation funders in the UK.

Read the full article here.

Therium Capital Management, the litigation funder behind Noel Edmonds taking on Lloyds Banking Group, yesterday announced the completion of £300m in new funding, thought to be led by US insurer Amtrust Financial.

The firm completed its first close at £200m, with another £100m expected from both its existing investor and new “global institutional investors”, it said yesterday. The fund will be deployed over the next two years.

Therium declined to reveal the identities of its investors, but it is thought Amtrust, a New York based insurer with almost $24bn (£17bn) in assets, is the main backer.

As well as the recently announced case brought by celebrity television presenter Edmonds, Therium is currently funding a £550m case against Lloyds brought by shareholders related to its acquisition of HBOS during the financial crisis, which will finish next month.

Litigation firm Therium to fund not-for-profit case. Litigation firm Therium to fund not-for-profit cases as legal aid slashed.

Litigation specialist Therium is to provide £1 million in not-for-profit funding to people struggling to afford legal costs as it looks to tackle the “drastic consequences” of Government cuts.

Therium is teaming up with Labour peer Lord Falconer to fund cases and law centres in need of support in what is believed to be an industry first.

As part of the initiative, the organisation – best known for bankrolling high-profile City lawsuits – will focus on the advancement of human rights, equality and diversity, as well as the protection of children, the elderly, the disabled, asylum seekers and other disadvantaged groups.

An initial £1 million a year will be put up, with the figure likely to increase.

Lord Falconer, who will chair the Therium Access advisory committee, said: “The choking of legal support that we have witnessed in this country as a result of unprecedented cuts to legal aid has had drastic consequences on the vulnerable who are being denied access to justice, and on those individuals and organisations who work tirelessly to support them.

“The not-for-profit funding that Therium Access will provide through grants for cases and projects is urgently required to make some contribution towards restoring the right to legal support, which is the bedrock of our justice system.”

Access to legal aid has plummeted under the Conservatives, with funding falling by 20% since 2013 to £1.6 billion a year in 2018.

Legal aid stood at around £40 per head in 2010, but by 2018 this had fallen to just £24 a head.

There are an estimated 1 million people living in areas with no legal aid provision and grants awarded by Therium Access are intended to provide access to justice to those who “lack the funds necessary to pursue or defend claims”.

Applicants will have to apply for the funding through a solicitor or barrister.

Therium co founder Neil Purslow told the Press Association: “We can’t replace legal aid cuts, but they have created a clear need for this. We hope that other litigation funders also get on board as it would help expand our reach.”

John Byrne, co-founder and CEO of Therium, added: “This is something we have wanted to do for a long time as we came across deserving claimants that weren’t suitable for commercial claims.”

He added that it is the perfect way to mark Therium’s 10th anniversary.

Therium’s for-profit arm and core business model involves funding lawsuits and then taking a portion of the damages if successful.

It has bankrolled the class action lawsuit against car giant Volkswagen over the emissions scandal and is the money behind Noel Edmonds’ legal war with Lloyds Bank.

Read full aricle in the Daily Mail here

First initiative of its kind dedicated to facilitating access to justice in the litigation funding industry
Lord Falconer, former Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Secretary of State for Justice will chair the Advisory Committee
The launch of Therium Access coincides with Therium’s 10 year anniversary

Therium Group Holdings Limited, one of the world’s leading providers of litigation, arbitration and specialty legal finance, today announced the launch of Therium Access, which will provide not-for-profit litigation funding in order to facilitate access to justice.

Therium Access is the first-of-its-kind initiative in the litigation funding industry. Grants awarded by Therium Access are intended to provide access to justice to those who lack the funds necessary to pursue or defend claims, as well as to projects that seek to improve access to justice.

Therium Access is the primary expression of Therium’s corporate and social responsibility programme. Therium Access dispenses with the criteria of funding for profit and has the sole purpose of facilitating access to justice by funding cases and projects which could not usually be funded on a commercial basis. Therium Access is a mark of Therium’s wider commitment to the pursuit of justice and the rule of law, and its launch coincides with the firm’s 10th anniversary.

John Byrne, Co-Founder and CEO of Therium Capital Management Limited, said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of Therium Access, which is dedicated to improving access to justice by providing not-for -profit litigation funding for cases and projects of public interest. Therium is ten years old this year and the making of the first Therium Access grants in April will be a fantastic way to mark the firm’s 10th anniversary.”

Lord Falconer, Chairman of Therium Access Advisory Committee said: “I am delighted to chair this important initiative, which is a first for the litigation funding industry and will hopefully lead the way for further initiatives. The choking of legal support that we have witnessed in this country as a result of unprecedented cuts to legal aid has had drastic consequences on the vulnerable who are being denied access to justice, and on those individuals and organisations who work tirelessly to support them. The not-for-profit funding that Therium Access will provide through grants for cases and projects is urgently required to make some contribution towards restoring the right to legal support, which is the bedrock of our justice system.”

The first grants will be announced in April. The deadline for the submission of the next round of grant applications is 30 August 2019. Applications need to be made by legal representatives or the entity seeking a grant. The board of Therium Access will be assisted by an Advisory Committee which will be chaired by Lord Falconer, former Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Secretary of State for Justice. Further appointments to the advisory committee will be announced in due course.

Therium Access aims to support access to justice in the broadest terms and considers applications that further the following causes (in no particular order):

  • The right to legal representation or due process;
  • The proper and efficient administration of justice;
  • The advancement of human rights;
  • The promotion of equality of rights and diversity;
  • The protection of children, the elderly, the disabled, minorities, asylum seekers and other vulnerable or disadvantaged groups;
  • The advancement of environmental protection or improvement;
  • The promotion of legal education that furthers the causes listed above; and
  • Any other case or project in which a person, group, or entity will not have access to justice without financial assistance.

Therium Access is intended to be a global initiative, its initial focus will be on the UK and it will be rolled out in other jurisdictions in a number of planned phases.

ENDS

About Therium

Therium is a leading global provider of litigation and arbitration and specialty legal finance, active in England and Wales since 2009. Over that period, Therium has funded claims with a total value exceeding £34 billion, including many of the largest and most high profile funded cases in the UK. With investment teams in the UK, USA, Australia, Spain and Norway, Therium has established a track record of success in litigation finance in all forms, including single case litigation and arbitration funding, funding law firms and portfolios of litigation and arbitration claims. Therium is also a founding member of the Association of Litigation Funders of England and Wales.

Therium has consistently been at the forefront of innovation in litigation finance, pioneering the combined use of insurance tools alongside funding vehicles, and introducing portfolio funding products into the UK. Therium’s ability to develop innovative funding arrangements and bespoke financial solutions for litigants and law firms complements its unmatched experience and rigorous approach to funding a wide range of commercial disputes throughout the world.

In Chambers and Partners’ inaugural litigation support directory 2018, Therium was ranked as a Tier 1 litigation funder, and Neil Purslow, the firm’s Chief Investment Officer, was named a leading individual in the litigation funding industry.

In February this year, Therium Capital Management was top ranked as one of the two “Leading” litigation and arbitration funding firms in the UK by legal and business directory Leaders League, in their 2019 ranking of litigation funding. Therium was also ranked as “Excellent” in the 2019 US ranking.

www.therium.com

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Desiree Maghoo
Questor Consulting
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dmaghoo@questorconsulting.com

Therium launched full service litigation funding operations in Melbourne on January 1, headed by Simon Dluzniak

Therium Capital Management, a leading global provider of litigation finance, announced today that Louise Hird has been appointed to the firm as an investment manager. Louise joins Therium from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), where she was a director leading investigations focused on consumer and competition law. Founded in 2009, Therium is one of the largest and most established litigation financing firms in the world. The firm has funded claims valued at $36 billion.

Therium Capital Management Australia Pty Ltd is headquartered in Melbourne and is led by Simon Dluzniak, who has worked in the funding industry in Australia and the UK since 2003.

Therium has funded claims in Australia since 2011 and is currently funding high profile shareholder class actions against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd and Spotless Group Holdings Ltd, as well as delivery management software company GetSwift Ltd. Therium Capital Management Australia will continue to finance class actions and general commercial, insolvency and arbitration claims. The firm will also seek to develop the country’s emerging corporate funding and portfolio funding markets, as well as investigate the funding of arbitration claims in Hong Kong and Singapore, both of which are emerging markets for litigation finance.

Simon Dluzniak, Head of Therium Capital Management Australia, said: “We are very excited about launching our office in Melbourne and delighted that Louise has joined the team. Her competition experience will be invaluable as we continue to deliver innovative funding solutions for our clients. Whilst our business has been very successful in Australia for some time and we are funding some major cases, having a team on the ground ensures that we are closer to our clients, and better positioned to capitalise on market opportunities in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region more broadly.”

Louise Hird, Investment Manager at Therium Capital Management Australia, said: “I have known of Therium for many years and have been hugely impressed. The team has tremendous experience in funding highly complex, often cross border cases, both claimant and defendant side, and has been at the forefront of developing the industry globally. I am very excited to join the firm and look forward to building the business further in Australia and the wider region, as well as working with our international teams to leverage Australia’s long standing experience of funding.”

Prior to joining Therium, Simon spent 12 years with another international funder, leading on cases in Australia and the UK. He has significant funding experience, particularly in relation to class action and insolvency litigation, having managed a number of high-profile funded cases in both jurisdictions. Previously, Simon worked with corporate regulators in Australia and the UK, and at Ernst & Young. He graduated from La Trobe University with degrees in Arts (BA) and Law (LLB) in 1997.

At the ACCC, Louise led a wide variety of investigations into misconduct in various industries. She has advised at a high level on enforcement strategy and case formulation in complex matters, and managed proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia. Louise has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Laws (Juris Doctor) from Monash University.

Therium has operations across Europe, including in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Scandinavia, and in the US. Therium was the first commercial litigation funder to have operations on the ground in Germany and Scandinavia and it was the first European firm to launch a full service business in the US.

Litigation funding allows individuals and companies to take on litigation and arbitration cases that they might not otherwise be able to afford, and/or to hedge the costs and risks involved in such matters. Therium pays for all of the costs, including adverse costs in the event that the case is lost, and only receives payment if the case is won.

Therium Capital Management Australia Pty Ltd is located at: Level 3, 257 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000. Telephone: +61 (0)3 8375 9641.

ENDS

About Therium

Founded in 2009, Therium is a leading global litigation financing firm with a market-leading track record of generating superior returns for its investors. The firm works across all forms of commercial litigation and arbitration and invests in a broad range of complex commercial disputes, from securities and shareholder actions, international arbitration, competition and antitrust cases, through to intellectual property, insolvency and class actions. In February 2018, Therium announced its latest fund of £200 million, which the company is now actively deploying, and Therium has now raised nearly $800 million since its foundation. To date, the firm globally has funded claims valued at $36 billion. Therium has consistently been at the forefront of innovation in litigation finance, pioneering the combined use of insurance tools alongside funding vehicles, and introducing portfolio funding products into the UK.

The firm’s ability to develop innovative funding arrangements and bespoke financial solutions for litigants and law firms complements its unmatched experience and rigorous approach to funding a wide range of commercial disputes throughout the world. In Chambers and Partners’ inaugural litigation support directory this year, Therium was ranked as a Tier 1 litigation funder. Therium is a founder member of the Association of Litigation Funders of England and Wales.

www.therium.com

Media enquiries

Desiree Maghoo
Questor Consulting
+44 (0)7775 522740
dmaghoo@questorconsulting.com

More class action lawyers are piling onto GetSwift over the alleged breach of continuous disclosure rules but one class action is likely to go ahead.
On Friday, boutique shareholder class action law firm Phi Finney McDonald filed a class action against GetSwift, with funding from Therium Australia.

This means there are now three separate shareholder class actions filed against the ASX-listed GetSwift, including the one filed by Squire Patton Boggs and another filed by Corrs Chambers Westgarth. Quinn Emanuel is defending GetSwift.

On Tuesday GetSwift shares were trading at $0.465, down nearly 90 per cent from the December high of $4.60 around the time when the company announced a deal with Amazon.

But Justice Michael Lee of the Federal Court said at a case management hearing on Friday that GetSwift should face only one class action case.

“I think we can say we’ve crossed the Rubicon that I am persuaded that you won’t be vexed with multiple proceedings,” Justice Lee said to GetSwift’s barrister Alan Shearer last week.

“It’s a question of what goes forward,” he said.

‘I’m a bargain’

Peter Brereton, SC, who is acting for the Corrs class action, said the claim was estimated to be worth between $120 million and $140 million and about 200 people have signed up to the action.

Squire Patton Boggs’ class action barrister William Edwards said the claim was estimated to be between $75 million and $100 million, with 100 people signed up to the action.

International Litigation Partners, which is funding the Squire Patton Boggs class action, would take a 22.5 per cent commission on the settlement sum, Mr Edwards said.

Squire Patton Boggs in its initial media announcement in February “estimates that the total claim size may exceed $300 million”, although Mr Edwards denied that was the case and blamed the media for publishing the figure.

“There’s no evidence about whether or not that was in fact an accurate record […] the press likes to exaggerate these things,” he said on Friday.

The court heard on Friday the Phi Finney McDonald’s partners working on the case had a charge-out rate of $737 an hour, compared to $962 at Corrs and $1045 for Squire Patton Boggs’ Amanda Banton.

“We’re, by far, the least expensive,” Phi Finney McDonalds’ class action barrister David Collins, QC, said.

When Justice Lee asked whether Mr Collins’ personal rates were “marginally more expensive than a partner at Corrs but significantly cheaper than Ms Banton’s”, Mr Collins quipped: “I’m a bargain. Everyone knows that.”

The class actions and an Australian Securities and Investments Commission investigation of the company were triggered by an investigation in The Australian Financial Review into GetSwift’s market announcements and failure to disclose contract losses.

Read the full article on afr.com

CREDIT: ALAMY

English lawyers are bringing a series of allegations against Volkswagen

A London court has indicated that it will give the green light to a group lawsuit by around 60,000 English car owners against Volkswagen, over the “dieselgate” scandal.

Lawyers for Slater and Gordon and Leigh Day said on Thursday they had been awarded a joint legal lead in the lawsuit, which will be the largest in English legal history, subject to any further applications by other law firms.

Volkswagen has said about 11 million cars worldwide were fitted with software that cheated US diesel emissions tests designed to limit noxious car fumes and carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution.

About 1.2 million Volkswagen, AudiSkoda and SEAT vehicles are affected in Britain.

English lawyers are bringing a series of allegations, including that Volkswagen manufacturers defrauded drivers, that “defeat devices” – engine management software designed to mask pollution levels – broke EU rules, that a Volkswagen software fix has caused other problems with cars and that drivers overpaid for vehicles.

“It has been two years since the scandal broke and the only thing that VW has offered UK consumers is a fix that our clients have told us doesn’t work,” said Gareth Pope, a litigation lawyer at Slater and Gordon.

“Now those consumers have the chance to hold VW to account for their deceit and will finally have their day in court,” he added.

Volkswagen has already agreed a multi-billion settlement with the US authorities and owners of affected vehicles, but the company has said it will fight the UK legal action.

“We intend to defend these claims robustly and are confident of a successful outcome,” a Volkswagen spokesperson said, stating the software has not been proven illegal in the UK and many cars had been fixed.

Therium has completed the first close of its new £300m fund dedicated to litigation, the funder has announced.

Therium turned to Simmons & Simmons partner Matthew Pitman, Ogier and Seward & Kissel on the establishment on the new fund. The first close is at £200m with a further £100m expected before final close, in what is Therium’s largest fund.

Co-founder and chief investment officer Neil Purslow said: “Demand for litigation funding from Therium since we launched our last major fund has exceeded our expectations and we have transformed the scale of our operations over the past few years in order to meet that demand.

“Over that period, Therium has enjoyed an unprecedented scale of opportunity in funding single cases in all of our markets. At the same time, we have innovated with portfolio products for law firms and corporates and with the acquisition of claims, judgments and awards.

“Our new investor base provides the platform that we need to be able to deliver all of these products to our clients, and we are excited to be partnering with them in this rapidly developing space.”

Therium said it would use the new funds to continue to invest in litigation in the financial services, energy and mining and TMT sectors. It added that the new fund is expected to be deployed within two years.

The litigation funder has bankrolled a number of significant class actions, including one launched by 45,000 Volkswagen (VW) car owners against the manfucturer over its emissions scandal, and the £3.9bn compensation claim against a number of European truck manufacturers who were found by the European Commission to have engaged in illegal price fixing for 14 years.

It is also funding a £300m claim lodged by retailers including Nando’s, the Co-operative Group, Pret A Manger and Harvey Nichols against Mastercard over its credit card fees. The group of well-known UK retailers argue that the credit card giant breached a number of EU and UK regulations when it set “unlawful and anti-competitive” Mastercard rules and fees by itself.

Most recently, Therium announced it would contribute £1.5m to Noel Edmonds’ £60m claim against Lloyds Bank relating to the fraud that took place at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS).

Edmonds is suing Lloyds, which merged with HBOS in 2009, for up to £60m – thought to have been revised down from £300m – in damages, after his business, Unique Group, collapsed following alleged fraud by HBOS bankers in Reading.

Earlier this year, rival funder Burford Capital said it was considering a potential bond issue following its $1.3bn investment in legal services during the past year.

The litigation funder invested more than triple its 2016 level last year. A notable case it has taken on is the cartel damages claim arising from the European Commission’s decision to issue a €2.9bn fine on manufacturers Daimler, Volvo/Renault, Iveco, MAN and DAF for price fixing.

Read the full article on thelawyer.com

One reason the anger from the financial crisis is still so widespread is that no banker went to jail and the public never had its day in court. Thus the widespread feeling that although the country has suffered a decade of stunted growth, the bankers responsible for the disaster have got away with it.
The regulatory bodies, the Financial Conduct Authority and its predecessor the Financial Services Authority could not find specific offences which they thought would support a successful prosecution.

Then the emphasis moved to civil actions brought by disgruntled shareholders and for a while this year it looked as though the Royal Bank of Scotland’s former chief executive Fred Goodwin, would be cross-examined as part of a shareholder action brought against the bank.

That never happened either, unfortunately, because RBS settled just before the trial was due to start.

However, something similar might happen this month with the directors of Lloyds in the frame. For some years now, the London law firm Harcus Sinclair has been preparing an action by shareholders against the then key directors of Lloyds bank over how it handled its acquisition of Halifax Bank of Scotland.

The trial should begin in the High Court next Wednesday. Having been battered over its disgraceful foot-dragging in dealing with the infamous fraud in its Reading branch, Lloyds risks getting another judicial mauling.

Assuming it goes ahead, shareholders will at last see some former chief staff in the dock: sometime chairman Sir Victor Blank, ex-chief executive Eric Daniels, ex-finance chief Tim Tookey, Truett Tate, who was head of wholesale and international banking, Archie Kane, former director of insurance and investments and Helen Weir ex-director of retail banking are all scheduled to appear and be cross-examined.

The central thrust of the shareholders’ case — and demand for compensation — is that the Lloyds board withheld material financial information about HBOS’s parlous financial condition while asking shareholders to approve the rescue deal. The action postulates that had shareholders known all the facts, they might have rejected the deal or at least demanded Lloyds pay a much lower price to buy. Either would have reduced the subsequent damage done to Lloyds’ own share price by the deal. Lloyds on behalf of its then directors disagrees.

You can really never know how these things will turn out in court but the shareholders have some useful ammunition on their side, not least contemporary submissions made to the Competition and Markets Authority. It turns out that, while Lloyds was telling shareholders the deal would be all right on the night, it was telling the CMA that it would be a calamity if the deal were blocked because HBOS would collapse.

It was in the public interest to allow the deal to proceed because if HBOS failed the Bank of England would lose £25 billion of emergency funding already injected and Lloyds would lose £6.5 billion of the £11 billion which it had also quietly made available. Neither these payments — nor an additional £10 billion borrowed by HBOS from the US Federal Reserve — appear to have been made known to shareholders at the time.

Lloyds says it disclosed everything it was legally required to disclose and might also reasonably argue that the end justified the means — that the board did the right thing in the public interest because an HBOS collapse might have brought down the entire UK banking system. That, however, would be an argument for HBOS to be rescued by the government with the cost borne by all taxpayers — not for HBOS to be rescued by Lloyds with the entire cost falling only on its hapless shareholders.

A company director’s duty is to act in the interests of shareholders not to help out the government, and one of the functions of regulation in its various forms is to ensure that this is indeed what happens.

Thus one of the interesting things which might also emerge from the trial is the extent to which the FSA, FCA, the Treasury, and indeed, Gordon Brown, who was prime minister at the time, acquiesced in (or resisted) a strategy which required Lloyds shareholders to be sacrificed for the greater good.

It should again be said that Lloyds throughout has argued that there is no substantive case to answer.

This stance probably informed their tactics which — since the case became public knowledge — seem to focus on running their legal costs up to astronomic levels (well over £20 million), in the belief that the escalating bill would force the other side to blink first and back off. Their small shareholders would be taught not to play poker with the big boys.

In earlier years this might have worked — the 6000 shareholder claimants were never going to have pockets deep enough to match a bank — but these days help of a kind is at hand.

The costs on the shareholder side — which are also in the region of £20 million and will rise a lot more as the trial unfolds — are being met by Therium Capital Management. This is one of those hedge funds which finances litigation in return for a 30% cut of the winnings, or three times the costs incurred, whichever is the bigger. It seems not to have dawned on Lloyds that the sides are much more evenly matched financially than you would expect.

With the court case imminent, Lloyds is now in a difficult position. Its image is already tarnished by the Reading affair. Even if it wins this case, victory will only come after a repeat airing of the events it would rather forget from 10 years ago which only bring further reputational damage to the bank. If it loses it will call into question its judgment in allowing the case to come to trial in the first place. And if it settles on the steps of the court it will find the cost significantly higher that it would otherwise have been because the hedge fund and lawyers will have to be paid off first.

It is often said that public company directors live in a bubble separated from the real world and remain unaware of what the public thinks of them and expects of them. That is certainly how Lloyds looks.

Read the full article in The Evening Standard

New technology is likely to be one of the most significant factors driving the rise of the litigation funding market over the next five years, industry experts say.

The increasing prominence of third-party funding has been accompanied by a rise in the technology and data tools that have the ability to predict, or at least indicate, the outcome of cases.

In May this year a machine learning study led by Daniel Katz, a law professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, confirmed that it is possible to use historic data to predict, with a high degree of accuracy, the future decisions of the US Supreme Court.

Katz’ study used the Supreme Court Database, which has case data stretching back to 1791, to create an algorithm designed to predict any justice’s vote. The model predicted more than 240,000 justice votes and 28,000 cases outcomes over nearly two centuries (1816-2015) with 70.2 per cent accuracy at the case outcome level and 71.9 per cent at the justice vote level.

A growing number of litigation funders say they are confident that new technology such as this will ultimately help them mitigate the gamble that is litigation and increase the likelihood that they will back future cases.

John Byrne, co-founder of Therium Capital Management, which has helped launch legal proceedings against Volkswagen and Bosch in the Nertherlands, said he believed the use of external funding would become much more widespread as funders learn to minimise uncertainty through the use of technology.

Craig Arnott at Burford Capital added that the key benefit of artificial intelligence (AI) is that it augments what remains a fundamentally judgement-based business. However, he stressed that the days when a robot could replace a lawyer remain far off in the future.

“At the scale of commercial litigation at which Burford invests, the business of litigation finance depends on specialised expertise and human judgement, not algorithms, and indeed this insight and experience are highly valued by our clients and the firms with which we work,” Arnott added.

“Prediction is fantastic but we are not there yet,” echoed Byrne. “It is a least five years away, but what we do have now is probability.”

This year’s The Lawyer’s Global Litigation 50 report, produced in association with FTI Consulting and published next week, focuses on the inexorable rise of technology across all stages of the litigation process.

It analyses in detail how the world’s leading law firms are utilising new technology to deliver services to clients. It also reveals how several firms are already exploring ways of using historic data to predict the outcomes of cases or provide clarity and predictability of bills.

Additional reporting by Alexandra Rogers

Read the full article on thelawyer.com