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Geradin Partners Opens Paris Office with the Hire of Partner Marc Barennes

After opening offices in Brussels in 2015, London in 2021, and Amsterdam in 2023, Geradin Partners continues its European expansion with the launch today of its Paris office with the hires of former EU official and competition litigator Marc Barennes and his team. 

Founding partner, Damien Geradin comments: 

“We’re delighted that Marc accepted our offer to open our Paris office. France is a key jurisdiction in Europe, and Marc and his team will help us achieve three goals. First, it allows us to bolster our competition and digital regulation practice. The Paris office will allow us to better serve our clients in France, in particular those in need of strategic advice regarding the DMA (Digital Markets Act), DSA (Digital Services Act) and EU competition law. It will also assist our international clients in interactions with the French competition authority. Second, given his unique experience within the competition authorities and courts, Marc adds further strength to our ability to pursue high-stakes appeals and interventions in relation to competition authority decisions at the French and European levels. Third, Geradin Partners has brought major private actions in the courts, in particular against large tech firms in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, while Marc has been a frontrunner in bringing collective actions in France. With Marc onboard, we will offer a choice between bringing a competition and DMA actions before the Dutch, English or French Courts, depending on which is best for each client”. 

Marc Barennes is a competition litigator with 20-plus years of experience. With over 15 years at the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union, he brings unique expertise in competition law. During his time with European institutions, he was directly involved in more than 350 cases, including more than 70 of the most complex and high-profile European cartel, abuse of dominance, merger and State aid cases. Before joining Geradin Partners, Marc also gained experience over the past five years of damages actions through his role as Executive Director of a leading claim aggregator, and co-founding partner of the first French claimant firm specialized in class actions. Marc has also been a Lecturer at French School of Law, Sciences Po Paris since 2014 and has been a non-governmental advisor to the European Commission and/or the French and Luxembourgish competition authorities for the International Competition Network (ICN) since 2012. He is a member of both the Paris and New York bars. 

Marc Barennes added: 

“I’m honoured and delighted to join Geradin Partners and launch its Paris office. In only a few years, Geradin Partners has become the go-to European firm for all complex competition and digital regulation cases. It now comprises an exceptional team of 20 competition and digital regulation specialists, including five senior former competition agency officials, who work seamlessly on French, EU and UK high-stake cases. The many cases it has already successfully brought against large tech firms before the French, English and EU competition authorities and courts as well as the multi-billion damages claims it has filed against them in the Netherlands and England are a testament to its expertise and its innovative approach to complex competition issues, especially in the digital space. I look forward to assisting French companies both in benefiting from those damage actions and in their most complex cases before the French and EU competition authorities and courts. Our ambition is to expand the Paris office rapidly: applications at the partner and senior associate levels are welcome”. 

About Geradin Partners

Geradin Partners was founded by competition and digital regulation expert Damien Geradin, who has spent the past 25 years working as an attorney, while combining this with an academic career. With a team of seven partners and a total of 20 competition experts based in Paris, Brussels, London and Amsterdam, Geradin Partners is the first European boutique to offer seamless competition law and digital regulation services in major cases throughout the EU and the UK. It is recognized by its clients and peers for its commitment to excellence, as well as for its innovative and strategic approach. 

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Announcements Comercial 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 Comercial

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 Comercial 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.