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 20 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

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

Fred joined Therium in 2022 after completing an MBA at Imperial College Business School. Fred was previously an investment officer at an international litigation funder where his work focused on competition and securities litigation across a range of jurisdictions.

Fred trained and qualified as a solicitor advocate at Forsters LLP where his work included advising the beneficiary of a substantial trust with assets across multiple jurisdictions and advising a group of over 200 retail investors concerning losses suffered in a fraudulent investment scheme. Fred’s experience includes civil fraud, property, professional negligence, and shareholder disputes. He has worked on multiple group claims and has extensive experience of funded litigation acting for both corporate and individual clients.

Fred studied Ancient History and Egyptology at University College London before completing both the GDL and LPC at the University of Law. Fred most recently completed an MBA at Imperial College Business School and is studying mandarin in his spare time.

fred.bowman@therium.com

Fran leads Therium’s global business development and marketing practice. She has over 10 years’ experience advising on strategy, business development and marketing across the legal and financial services sectors. Fran’s role includes leading the global teams to think innovatively in origination and relationship development with both investors and partners. She also runs the day-to-day marketing and business development function at Therium.

Previously Fran worked in various business development roles at Freeths, Herbert Smith Freehills, Deloitte & Grant Thornton. She has a Diploma in Professional Marketing, Chartered Institute of Marketing and a 2:1 BA (Hons) Business, University of Kent

fran.johnson@therium.com

+44 203 3327 3460

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

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