Jersey, Channel Islands, 2^nd June 2020: Therium Access, the not-for-profit arm of global litigation funder Therium, has committed £100,000 and provided its own resources to help launch and deliver the Community Justice Fund alongside grant giving organisations focused on the provision of access to justice. Therium Access provided match-funding to the Access to Justice Foundation and London Legal Support Trust Emergency Advice Appeal which raised funds to establish the Community Justice Fund. Other funders include The Legal Education Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, AB Charitable Trust and Indigo Trust, plus contributions from the Ministry of Justice, Law Society, Linklaters, Allen and Overy and London Legal Support Trust. The total funding pot is currently £7million. Jeunesse Mensier, Grant Programme Director at Therium Access sits on the Project Management Group and Grants Assessment Panel at the Community Justice Fund. As part of the Project Management Group, Mensier was deeply involved in the development and delivery of the Fund including the formation of the eligibility criteria, application process, principles and fundraising. On the Grants Assessment Panel, Mensier is part of a team who considers all applications received. Hosted by the Access to Justice Foundation, the Fund will provide financial and other support to specialist social welfare law advice agencies who have been impacted by COVID-19. Grants from £25,000 to £100,000 are distributed quickly to meet the urgent need faced by law advice services across the UK. To date, grants in the amount of £600,000 have been made to 10 organisations with further applications being received daily. The legal advice sector has been under significant pressure in recent times. The COVID-19 outbreak threatens to destroy an already fragile sector.  Many specialist advice agencies will close over the next 2 – 12 months unless the wider legal community steps in to help now! The Community Justice Fund needs the support of the legal community so that it can make an impact on the ability of people to access  justice in these difficult times. To give to the Community Justice Fund please visit https://atjf.org.uk/emergencyappeal. Jeunesse Mensier, Grant Programme Director at Therium Access said: “We are thrilled to have been part of launching the Community Justice Fund and I am honored to be part of the Fund’s team. This is an incredibly difficult time for all those that provide free specialist legal advice, and I am proud of Therium Access’ role in supporting those during this crisis. I look forward to working with our partners to create better access to justice for all.” Greg Hodder from ATJF said: “The financial and operational support from Therium Access to launch the Community Justice Fund has led the way, inspiring hundreds of people across the legal community to give to those that are in desperate need of legal advice in this difficult time.” John Byrne from Therium Access said: “The advice sector is the front line of our justice system and a large number of organisations have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Partnering with the Access to Justice foundation and other grant giving organisations to launch the Community Justice Fund will further our commitment to supporting the vital work carried out by the advice sector at this unprecedented time. It’s a drop in the ocean but the more of us across the legal industry who provide financial support, the greater the impact we can have on facilitating access to justice across the UK at this precarious time.” About Therium Access 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.  Therium Access is a mark of Therium’s wider commitment to the pursuit of justice and the rule of law. Therium Access accepts applications from charities and other entities whose services and projects facilitate access to justice or from those seeking assistance to obtain legal representation on cases (including defence) which have strategic importance. The applicant’s need and the impact of the grant will be important factors in our review process. The deadline for the submission of the next round of grant applications is 30 April 2020. In addition, urgent applications may be considered on an ad hoc basis. Applications need to be made by legal representatives or the entity seeking a grant.  The board of Therium Access is assisted by an Advisory Committee which is chaired by Lord Falconer, former Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Secretary of State for Justice. 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 is on the UK and it will be rolled out in other jurisdictions in a number of planned phases. About Therium Therium is a leading global provider of litigation and arbitration funding and specialty legal finance. 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 Access and its not-for-profit funding is the latest innovation from Therium which 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. Chambers and Partners have ranked Therium as a Tier 1 litigation funder and Neil Purslow, the firm’s Chief Investment Officer, as a leading individual in the litigation funding industry, for the last two years. 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.

The common law doctrine that bans champerty has been around since the middle ages. This dark age law prohibiting funding for legal cases by outside parties (who then receive a share of a winning award) is still in place in some parts of the world. But Minnesota is no longer one of those places—earlier this week, the Minnesota Supreme Court abolished the champerty doctrine. Bloomberg Law explains that this is a major win for litigation funders, as it affirms its positive impact on the legal world. This follows the trend of other states either refusing to recognize champerty laws, or outright legalizing third-party legal funding. Texas, Ohio, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Illinois, Hawaii, Connecticut, Colorado, California, Arkansas, and Arizona are all on board with lit fin as a growing field. This recent decision began with a personal injury case wherein an injured party made an agreement to receive funding from Prospect Funding Holdings LLC. The plaintiff agreed to pay Prospect Funding about $14,000, but her lawyer refused, saying the agreement was invalid because of the state-wide ban on funding. The funder sued, and lost in district court—the agreement was declared unenforceable because it was not technically legal to begin with. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruling reversed this decision. Eric Schuller, President of ARC—the Alliance for Responsible Consumer Legal Funding, expressed satisfaction with the decision. “The Minnesota Supreme Court got it right. We hope that this decision will allow the opponents of the industry to finally put the issue of champerty to rest.” Schuller goes on to explain the necessity of Litigation Finance, “Consumer Legal Funding is a financial product that allows consumers to get the proper outcome of their legal claim when they don’t have the financial wherewithal to meet their day-to-day obligations like mortgage, rent, or just putting food on the table.”

HONG KONG, 4 June 2020:  Proceedings have been filed in Omni Bridgeway Limited's, (ASX:OBL) first funded international arbitration in Hong Kong since the Special Administration Region amended its Arbitration Ordinance (Cap. 609) to permit third party funding (effective February  2019). The funded proceedings are being administered by the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) under its 2018 Administered Arbitration Rules. Omni Bridgeway will finance the claimant, who is advised by leading Canadian firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. Further details of the dispute are confidential. In June 2017, Hong Kong amended its Arbitration Ordinance to expressly state that the torts of maintenance and champerty in Hong Kong, which have historically prevented third party funding, do not apply to third party funding of arbitration and related proceedings. A Code of Practice was published in December 2018 and came into effect in February 2019 to provide guidance on the standards and practices that third party funders are expected to follow. Cheng-Yee Khong, who heads Omni Bridgeway’s Hong Kong office said: "Omni Bridgeway has a long and successful history of funding insolvency related litigation in Hong Kong; however, the legal framework historically prevented us from funding other forms of dispute resolution. Since the legislative reforms in 2019, we have experienced increasing demand for funding in Hong Kong arbitration matters and this case represents one of the many strong prospects in our current pipeline. As Hong Kong is a leading global hub for international commercial arbitration, this demand has come from a range of jurisdictions including China, Japan, Korea, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, EMEA, USA and Canada. Many of these applications have come from sophisticated corporate users of arbitration, seeking to take advantage of the risk and cost management benefits of arbitration funding." The Borden Ladner Gervais team is led by partners and internationally recognized arbitration counsel Robert J.C. Deane and Craig Chiasson. Robert Deane said: “The opportunity to access financing for Hong Kong-seated arbitrations has been a significant and very positive development for our clients, especially in the current economic climate. It has allowed them to seek redress for the wrongs they've experienced in a way that makes good sense from a commercial and risk management perspective. We look forward to continuing to work with Omni Bridgeway on behalf of clients based in Canada and also around the world.” Sarah Grimmer, Secretary-General of HKIAC, said: "The availability of third party funding for arbitration and related proceedings in Hong Kong is a welcome development for users. HKIAC introduced provisions in its 2018 Administered Arbitration Rules to address issues that arise in respect of third party funding; namely, a limited disclosure requirement by the funded party, a confidentiality carve-out to allow information sharing with funders or potential funders, and in relation to the fixing and allocation of costs. HKIAC has seen several cases involving third party funders and expects more ahead." This news complements other recent developments for Omni Bridgeway in Asia, including the merger of the IMF Bentham and Omni Bridgeway operations globally. Omni Bridgeway is a global leader in dispute resolution finance, with expertise in civil and common law legal and recovery systems, and operations spanning Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, the UK and the US. Omni Bridgeway offers dispute finance from case inception through to post-judgment enforcement and recovery. Since 1986, it has established a proud record of funding disputes and enforcement proceedings around the world. Omni Bridgeway is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:OBL) and includes the leading dispute funders formerly known as IMF Bentham Limited, Bentham IMF and ROLAND ProzessFinanz. It also includes a joint venture with IFC (part of the World Bank Group). Visit omnibridgeway.com to learn more.