Trending Now
Announcements Commercial People Moves

Omni Bridgeway announces U.S. legal industry leaders appointed to its Investment Committee

Omni Bridgeway is pleased to welcome Leora Ben-Ami and the Honorable Winifred Y. Smith (Ret.) to its Investment Committee. These nationally regarded legal industry professionals bring decades of experience and a wealth of knowledge to Omni Bridgeway’s investment process. Ms. Ben-Ami will leverage her extensive background in intellectual property to review and evaluate cases relevant to the company’s global IP portfolio. Judge Smith joins the US Investment Committee, where she will consider a variety of complex commercial cases.

Ms. Ben-Ami is a renowned intellectual property attorney with a focus on biotechnology, life sciences and pharmaceuticals. She has extensive trial experience as lead counsel including arguing before the U.S. Court of Appeals and within the Federal Circuit. In addition to taking on leadership roles at various AmLaw Global 200 firms, Ms. Ben-Ami sits on the board of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association.

The Honorable Winifred Y. Smith (Ret.) is a distinguished jurist, having served on the bench of the Alameda County Superior Court for over two decades adjudicating complex civil litigation matters and numerous questions of first impression. She was selected as Presiding Judge in 2015-2016 and later retired following her service in the Complex Civil Litigation division. Judge Smith also lent her experience as a Justice Pro Tem for the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Four. In 2021, she was awarded Trial Judge of the Year by the American Board of Trial Advocates. Prior to her career on the bench, Judge Smith was a Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice’s Office of the Attorney General for 26 years.

“We are thrilled to have these top legal minds on our Investment Committee,” said Matt Harrison, Managing Director and co-Chief Investment Officer for the US. “With the addition of Ms. Ben-Ami and Judge Smith, claimants, sophisticated litigators, and companies seeking dispute and litigation funding can be confident our investment process continues to establish the highest standards in the industry.”

Managing Director and co-Chief Investment Officer for the US, Jim Batson, said “We are delighted to welcome the decades of experience from Ms. Ben-Ami and Judge Smith. It is important to continue to add members to the Investment Committee who bring diversity of thought from a range of experiences and backgrounds.”

“Ms. Ben-Ami has the ideal background for our global portfolio of intellectual property matters. Her experiences as a practice leader and trial attorney give her a unique perspective which will be invaluable to our internal and external stakeholders,” commented Sarah Tsou, Portfolio Manager – Global Intellectual Property and Senior Investment Manager.

Announcements

View All
Announcements Commercial Legal Innovation

Sentry Expands Free Funding Market Search for Litigators

By John Freund |

Sentry Funding’s free tool enabling litigators to instantly search the funding market on behalf of clients has been expanded.

Sentry’s free ‘decision in principle’ feature enables lawyers to evidence to clients that they have conducted a broad market search, even if funding is not ultimately taken out.

Having deployed £125m in funding across a range of case types, Sentry now has access to an even broader funding marketplace, covering 34 global jurisdictions. Finance is provided by 13 funders, five of which are members of the Association of Litigation Funders.

With the recent addition of Sentry’s first US-based funder, the US offering will now be expanding over the next few months. 

A faster process

Sentry has deployed the latest technology to make the search for funding even easier. 

  • The intuitive application process now only asks questions relevant to previous answers, saving lawyers time.
  • The commercial marketplace has been redeveloped with 63 new data points added to the funder criteria matrix - improving the accuracy of case / funder matching
  • Sentry has also begun building out its AI capabilities, starting with an automated auditing tool for live case progression audits. 

Tom Webster, chief executive officer at Sentry Funding, said:

‘By broadening our reach and speeding up the process, we’re making it even easier for lawyers to raise funding. We’re also giving litigators an easy way to show clients they have fully researched the market, rather than just approaching one or two funders. 

‘The service is free to use, so even if clients decide they do not ultimately want funding or if none is available for that case, for the lawyer, it makes sense to use our “decision in principle” feature, so they can put evidence on file that they did check the market.’

Sentry Funding is an SaaS (software as a service) technology provider that gives solicitors access to a diverse marketplace of litigation funders. It works with solicitors, funders and third-party providers to ensure claimants are getting the most efficient service for their funding needs. 

The Sentry Portal also acts as a case management system that runs a transparent digital case file for solicitors, funders, after-the-event insurance providers, barristers, cost lawyers and other relevant third parties.

Announcements Commercial

NorthWall Capital Hits €2.9 B AUM on Private Credit Momentum

By John Freund |

NorthWall Capital has rocketed past €2.9 billion in assets under management after pulling in an additional €1.6 billion of institutional capital in 2025 alone. The London-based alternative credit manager says the surge reflects allocators’ intensifying hunt for scaled, multi-strategy platforms as Europe’s banks retrench and borrowers seek bespoke sources of credit.

A press release from NorthWall Capital details first-close totals across four distinct strategies. The flagship Credit Opportunities fund secured €731 million—already eclipsing its prior vintage—while the newly launched Senior Lending vehicle raised $503 million, translating to roughly $750 million of deployable firepower once leverage is applied. Asset-Backed Opportunities collected €252 million for collateral-rich loans in sectors underserved by traditional lenders, and the specialist Legal Assets platform locked down $169 million to extend the firm’s law-firm lending programme.

Founder and CIO Fabian Chrobog said the fundraising validates “the consistency of our approach” and NorthWall’s ability to craft solutions that resonate with investors and counterparties alike. With headcount slated to hit 40 by year-end, the firm plans to lean further into complex, situational credit born of bank deleveraging, regulatory shifts and sponsors’ need for certainty of execution.

Announcements Commercial People Moves

Victory Park Expands Legal Credit Leadership with Maleson Promotion

By John Freund |

Victory Park Capital (VPC), a global alternative asset manager specializing in private credit, has announced that Justin Maleson will expand his role to Managing Director, co-heading the firm’s legal credit investment strategy. The promotion underscores VPC’s ongoing investment in its legal finance capabilities and follows Maleson’s initial appointment in 2024 as Assistant General Counsel.

An announcement from Victory Park Capital details Maleson’s new responsibilities, which include sourcing, analyzing, and managing investments across legal assets, while maintaining oversight of the firm’s legal operations. He joins Chad Clamage in co-leading the strategy, working alongside team members Hugo Lestiboudois and Andrew Pascal, under the continued oversight of VPC CEO and founder Richard Levy.

Maleson brings a strong background in litigation finance and commercial law to the position. Before joining VPC, he served as a director at Longford Capital, where he specialized in originating and managing litigation funding transactions. His earlier tenure as a litigation partner at Jenner & Block further deepened his exposure to complex legal matters, equipping him with the expertise needed to navigate the nuanced legal credit space.

VPC’s legal credit team emphasizes an asset-backed lending model, prioritizing downside protection and predictable income streams. The firm aims to capitalize on inefficiencies within the legal funding market by leveraging its internal expertise and broad network of relationships. With Maleson’s appointment, VPC signals its intent to further scale its legal credit strategy, positioning itself as a key player in the evolving legal finance sector.

Maleson’s elevation comes at a time of increasing sophistication in litigation finance, where experienced legal minds are playing a pivotal role in portfolio construction and risk management. As VPC bolsters its leadership, the move may foreshadow further institutionalization of legal asset investing and heightened competition in a maturing market segment.