Committed

John Byrne

John co-founded Therium in 2008 and is a director of Therium Capital Management Limited and the firm’s Chief Executive Officer. John is a solicitor and was formerly a corporate partner at Nabarro Nathanson, then managing partner of the London office of Dorsey & Whitney. In the latter role, John acquired PwC's tax litigation team and a VAT litigation team from Ernst & Young. John has previously been listed by Chambers as one of the UK's best business lawyers. John has LLB and LLM degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

john.byrne@therium.com

+44 (0) 20 8017 5304

Neil Purslow

Neil co-founded Therium in 2008 and is a director of Therium Capital Management Limited and the firm’s Chief Investment Officer. Neil is a solicitor with over 17 years’ experience and was previously Litigation Counsel in-house for Marsh & MacLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC). Prior to this he was in practice in the City of London with US firm Reed Smith and Withers. He is a board member of the Association of Litigation Funders the self-regulatory body for the litigation funding industry in England and Wales, of which Therium is a founding member. Neil speaks regularly at conferences and is often quoted in the media on issues related to litigation funding. He gained an MA in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford (1995). Neil Purslow was ranked as a Tier 1 litigation funder by Chambers and Partners.

neil.purslow@therium.com

+44 (0) 20 3327 3464

Timothy Mayer

Tim joined Therium from another litigation funder in 2015. He has advised on funded claims valued in excess of £350m. Tim is a member of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (Queen Mary) Task Force on Third Party Funding in International Arbitration, and was formerly Company Secretary and a director of the Association of Litigation Funders of England & Wales. He was a member of the Third Party Funding Working Party that drafted the Code of Conduct for Litigation Funders in England and Wales following the Jackson Review. Previously, Tim was an in-house barrister for Allianz Litigation Funding and formerly of Ropewalk Chambers, Nottingham, and No 5 Chambers, Birmingham. He was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in 1997 and took Firsts in both Jurisprudence (1995) and the Bachelor of Civil Law degree (1996) at Oriel College, Oxford.

tim.mayer@therium.com

+44 (0) 20 3327 3466

Nicholas Moore

Nick joined Therium in 2015 from another litigation funder after seven years at CMS Cameron McKenna as a litigator. He has acted in numerous domestic and international litigation and arbitration cases, advising on claims involving insurance brokers, solicitors and professional indemnity insurers. He has also advised London and international market insurers and reinsurers upon inwards and outwards reinsurance and retrocession disputes. Nick acted for another funder in the widely reported Harcus Sinclair v Buttonwood Legal Capital Ltd and Others [2013] EWHC 1193 which was the first reported case to consider termination of third party litigation funding agreements under the new Jackson regime. Nick graduated from Durham University (LLB) in 2004 and Nottingham Law School (LPC) in 2006.

nick.moore@therium.com

+44 (0) 20 3327 3465

Elly Brindle

Elly joined Therium in 2018 from Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, where she was a commercial litigation and international arbitration lawyer, practising commercial, competition, and financial disputes, as well as white-collar fraud and corporate investigations. Elly’s work at Boies Schiller focused on major high-stakes disputes, including representing Apple in its global antitrust litigation against Qualcomm; Midtown Acquisitions LP, a Davidson Kempner affiliate, in its multi-jurisdictional judgment enforcement against Essar Global Fund Limited; A1 noteholders in their successful High Court litigation and settlement against the Canary Wharf Group; a major hedge fund in relation to complex High Court proceedings against Terra Firma Capital Partners’ Four Seasons Healthcare Groups; and several significant commercial and investor-state arbitrations.

Previously, Elly trained and practised at Freshfields, where she was an Associate in the firm’s Commercial Disputes team. Elly graduated from the University of Cambridge (BA first class) in 2011, before pursuing a postgraduate year in Management Studies at the Cambridge Judge Business School. She completed her Graduate Diploma in Law and Accelerated LPC at BPP Law School, London, graduating with distinction in 2014.

elly.brindle@therium.com

+44 (0)20 3327 3460

James joined Therium in 2019 from Slaughter and May, where he trained and practised as a senior associate in the multi-specialist dispute resolution team, working on commercial, competition and financial disputes, as well as white-collar and corporate investigations. James has experience of defending high-value follow-on and standalone competition damages claims, mass tort claims and other group claims across a number of sectors, as well as defending large corporates in breach of warranty and fraudulent misrepresentation claims and in investigations by the UK Serious Fraud Office and Financial Conduct Authority. Key clients at Slaughter and May included Rolls-Royce, JP Morgan Chase, Marks & Spencer, Dentsu Aegis, EY and British American Tobacco, at the latter of which James spent six months on a client secondment working in the commercial litigation team.

James graduated from the University of Oxford (First Class Honours in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE)) in 2009, where he came top of his year in Economics, and BPP Law School, London, in 2011, where he achieved a Distinction in both the Graduate Diploma in Law and the Legal Practice Course.

james.dobias@therium.com

+44 (0) 20 3273460

Ben Smyth

Ben joined Therium in 2020, following more than 15 years in Investment Banking.  Ben was most recently Head of Benelux and Nordics, within the Financial Institutions Debt Capital Markets advisory group, at UBS Investment Bank.  In this role, he acted for some of the largest Banks and Insurance companies in Northern Europe, advising on liability optimisation.  Ben has experience in originating, structuring and executing a number of high profile and complex credit instruments across multiple international jurisdictions, spanning Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Ben has been heavily involved with the development of regulatory capital instruments under the Solvency II and Capital Requirements Directive IV (CRD IV) regimes.  He has acted on the inaugural Restricted Tier 1 (RT1) instrument from a European insurer (ASR Nederland), as well as the inaugural Additional Tier 1 bonds from banks based in Benelux (KBC Bank) and Sweden (Nordea Bank).

Ben achieved a First Class Degree (with Honours) in Economics from the University of Durham.  He has also completed the Graduate Diploma in Law at BPP Law School, London, where he was awarded a Distinction.

ben.smyth@therium.com

Deniz joined Therium in September 2017 as an Investment Team Assistant. Based in the London office, she provides support to the London and international investment teams and assists with the office management. Prior to joining Therium, Deniz was an office manager with global estate agent Fine & Country. Deniz also has a foundation degree in Forensic Science.

deniz.shefki@therium.com

+44 (0)20 3327 3460

Eric Blinderman

Eric is the Chief Executive Officer of Therium Inc. Eric is a seasoned international and commercial litigator who, while at Proskauer Rose LLP, has represented governmental and private entities in the U.S., Middle East, China, Europe, and Canada in complex litigations and international commercial arbitrations. Eric also worked for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Justice – including serving in Iraq as Chief Legal Counsel and Associate Deputy to the Regime Crimes Liaison’s Office, where he served as the principal U.S. attorney responsible for advising on all matters of law and procedure in the trial of Saddam Hussein and seven other co-defendants. Eric holds a Masters of Legal Studies with distinction from the University of Oxford, a Juris Doctor cum laude from Cornell Law School, and a Bachelor of Science in communications with a concentration in government from Cornell University. Eric is also the founder and owner of a critically acclaimed restaurant in New York City called Mas (farmhouse), and he is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School where he teaches International Commercial Arbitration.

eric.blinderman@therium.com

+1 (212) 951 0727

Patrick J. Dempsey

Patrick joined Therium in 2016 as Chief Investment Officer for the United States. Patrick is an experienced litigator and trial lawyer who has regularly taken cases through to trial and arbitral hearings, with extensive experience in complex commercial litigation (including international arbitration and other cross-border disputes), as well as trademark and patent disputes, trade secret theft, and regulatory investigations in a broad range of industries. Before joining Therium, Patrick was an associate at Hogan Lovells and at Proskauer. He received his Juris Doctor from Tulane University Law School, magna cum laude, where he was Managing Editor of the Tulane Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. While in law school, Patrick externed for the Honorable Sarah S. Vance of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

patrick.dempsey@therium.com

+1 (212) 951 0774

William H. Weisman

Will is a highly experienced attorney who began his legal career as a litigator at Proskauer Rose LLP, where he was a member of Proskauer’s financial services practice group and specialised in complex commercial litigation. Will subsequently joined the law firm Gordon & Rees LLP, where he handled all aspects of high-stakes litigations at the trial and appellate level. Will joined Therium from Liberty International Underwriters Inc., where he oversaw high exposure matters on behalf of the company’s Directors & Officers insurance business. Will received his law degree, cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School, where he was Notes & Comments Editor of the Brooklyn Law Review. While in law school, Will externed for the Honorable Edward R. Korman, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

william.weisman@therium.com

+1 (212) 951 0774

Elizabeth Korchin

Elizabeth joined Therium in 2018 from Hogan Lovells, where she was a partner in the firm’s litigation and arbitration group. Although Elizabeth has a particular expertise in technology-related matters, her practice focused on high-stakes complex commercial litigation and arbitration across a wide variety of areas of substantive law, including Lanham Act, RICO, ERISA, False Claims Act, antitrust, consumer protection, and contract claims, among others, and she has handled all aspects of litigation including multiple jury trials, bench trials, and international arbitration hearings on the merits, as well as appellate proceedings. Throughout her career, Elizabeth has been a champion for justice through pro bono work, especially in her advocacy for child refugees and torture survivors. Elizabeth received her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 2008, and her undergraduate degree from Duke University in 2005.

elizabeth.korchin@therium.com

+1 (212) 951 1745

Simon joined Therium in January 2019 as head of Therium Capital Management (Australia) Ltd and is based in Melbourne, Australia.

Prior to joining Therium, Simon spent 12 years with an international litigation funder, undertaking roles on its behalf in both Australia and the UK.  Simon 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.

Prior to his funding experience, Simon worked with corporate regulators in both Australia and the UK and also with Ernst & Young.

Simon is graduated from La Trobe University with degrees in Arts (BA) and Law (LLB) in 1997 and was admitted to practice law in 1999.

simon.dluzniak@therium.com

+61 (0)419 584 285

Louise joined Therium in January 2018 in the newly established Melbourne office.  Prior to joining Therium, Louise worked at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), managing consumer and competition law investigations. 

As a Director, Louise led a wide variety of ACCC investigations into misconduct in various industry sectors, including as examples the telecommunications, waste management and retail & consumer goods sectors.  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.

louise.hird@therium.com

Christoph Kuzaj

Christoph is the managing director of Therium Deutschland GmbH. With more than 20 years of experience, Christoph has specialised in corporate and capital markets law with a particular focus on complex corporate litigation. Christoph's litigation practice extends to disputes arising out of private and public M&A-transactions, including defensive actions in takeovers, and corporate special situations. Christoph is admitted to the German Bar Association, holds a degree in law with distinction and a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude. Christoph attained his Juris Doctor on completion of his postgraduate studies on specific fields of German Civil Procedure Law.

christoph.kuzaj@therium.com

+49 (0) 211 2600 6550

Henrik Berg

Henrik is CEO of Therium Nordic AS. He has more than 20 years of experience as a management consultant in Scandinavia, having worked for firms including PA Consulting Group, Qvartz and Pareto Group. He holds an MSc in economics and business administration from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration.

henrik.berg@therium.no

+47 91 36 15 15

Henrik Jensen

Henrik is Chairman of Therium Nordic AS. He is an experienced lawyer and has been admitted to the Supreme Court of Norway. Henrik founded and is an active owner of two law firms (Legalis and Legal24) and a legal insurance company (Legal Insurance Group) in Norway and Scandinavia. Henrik completed his first degree in law in Oslo, followed by a Master of Law at the Max-Planck-Institute in Munich, with a thesis in EU copyright-law.

henrik@therium.no

+47 91 81 77 79