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“Therium Access” not-for-profit funding initiative announces first grant awards to improve access to justice in the UK

“Therium Access” not-for-profit funding initiative announces first grant awards to improve access to justice in the UK

Jersey, Channel Islands, 15 May 2019. Therium Group Holdings Limited, one of the world’s leading providers of litigation, arbitration and specialty legal finance, today announced the first recipients of grant awards by Therium Access, the firm’s not- for-profit funding initiative dedicated to facilitating access to justice. The inaugural recipients include The Personal Support Unit, LawWorks, Crosslight Advice and the Suffolk Law Centre. Therium Access is the first-of-its-kind initiative in the litigation funding industry. Grants awarded by Therium Access are intended to promote access to justice for those who lack the funds necessary to pursue or defend claims, as well as to projects that seek to improve access to justice. John Byrne, Co-Founder and CEO of Therium Capital Management Limited, said: “We launched Therium Access two months ago and we are delighted to be announcing the first recipients of grant awards. The recipients have been selected on the basis that the funding provided by Therium Access will have a significant impact and help to improve access to justice for as many people as possible. Therium is ten years old this year and the making of this first round of grants is a fantastic way to mark our 10 year anniversary.” Lord Falconer, Chairman of Therium Access Advisory Committee said: “This is a first for the litigation funding industry and will hopefully lead the way for further initiatives.  The not-for-profit funding that Therium Access is providing to these projects will provide help for a large number of individuals who otherwise would not have received legal advice and assistance, in the light of years of punitive cuts to legal aid and advice funding by the state. I strongly support the initiative Therium have taken. And am proud to be Therium Access’ chair.” Ellen Pereira, CEO of Personal Support Unit (PSU) said: “We are immensely grateful to Therium Access for their kind and most generous grant in support of four of our PSU services. In a difficult funding climate and with increased competition for limited funds, we are absolutely delighted that Therium Access is supporting our vital work of increasing access to justice. The funding will not only help us support more people accessing the civil and family courts but also help support our new delivery model, enabling us to reach more people in more places. From everyone here at the PSU, thank you once again for your generosity.” Martin Barnes, CEO of LawWorks said: “LawWorks is delighted to have been awarded one of the first grants by Therium Access. The grant will fund our project to support solicitors providing pro bono advice and representation for social security benefit tribunal appeals. With bespoke training and supervision provided by LawWorks, pro bono volunteers are achieving success rates at appeal of over 90% of cases, ensuring that many vulnerable people receive the vital financial support to which they are entitled.” Bruce Connell, CEO Crosslight Advice said: “We are incredibly grateful to have partners like Therium Access supporting our work with the most vulnerable. Like Therium, we believe that justice should be a universal concept and we are thrilled to be working with them to provide our clients with access to justice and improve their lives.” Audrey Ludwig, Director of Legal Services of the Suffolk Law Centre said: “Suffolk Law Centre is England’s newest Law Centre. We work to offer access to justice for all, particularly the most vulnerable and those most impacted by the legal aid desert in Suffolk. Our services include weekly Legal Advice Clinics, a Family Support Court Helpdesk, and a discrimination casework service.  We assisted over 1,500 people in our first year with advice, casework, legal education workshops, policy work and referrals to other services. We are extremely proud to be supported by Therium Access, and are delighted that with their generosity we can continue to support the diverse communities of Suffolk to gain equal access to justice, to challenge disadvantage and inequality, and to help them understand their legal rights, obligations and protections.” 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 by funding cases and projects which could not usually be funded on a commercial basis.  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). 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 August 2019. 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 equalityof rights and diversity;
  • The protection of children, the elderly, the disabled, minorities, asylum seekers and other vulnerable or disadvantagedgroups;
  • The advancement of environmental protection or improvement;
  • The promotion of legal educationthat furthers the causes listed above; and
  • Any othercase 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 and specialty legal finance, active in England and Wales since 2009. 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. In Chambers and Partners’ inaugural litigation support directory 2018, Therium was ranked as a Tier 1 litigation funder, and Neil Purslow, the firm’s Chief Investment Officer, was named a leading individual in the litigation funding industry. 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. www.therium.com  About the grant recipients  Law Works– grant for a national and well-known charity to provide funding over 3 years for their secondary specialisation project in welfare benefits law, where volunteer lawyers are trained, supervised and insured to enable them to represent clients on a pro bono basis in the Department of Work and Pensions tribunal. This is an existing project with a 90% success rate in appealing benefit cuts and approximately 270 people will receive assistance as a direct consequence of this grant. https://www.lawworks.org.uk/ Suffolk Law Centre– grant for a regional law centre which was only set up a year ago. It is the only law centre in Ipswich and serves Suffolk, which is a legal aid advice desert. The centre provides varied advice to those who cannot afford legal advice, including on family, immigration, discrimination and housing law matters, it also runs workshops in schools to tackle discrimination and provides support to litigants in person in the local Family Court. In the next 6 months alone, the centre is expected to provide advice and support to 500 people. http://www.iscre.org.uk/legal-services/suffolk-law-advice-centre/ Personal Support Unit (‘PSU’)– grants for a national and well-known charity to provide funding for 1 year for three satellite services in Barnet, Coventry and Southend-on-Sea, and an underfunded and oversubscribed service in Preston, where volunteers provide support to Litigants in Person in court, mostly in respect of family law matters. It is anticipated that these 4 services will provide 3,400 sessions of support in this period. https://www.thepsu.org/ Crosslight Advice– grant for a niche charity to provide funding for 1 year for the costs of a site in a deprived area of West London, where volunteers provide specialist debt advice and support. Many of the charity’s clients are vulnerable, with most having mental health issues and living below the poverty line. They provide a holistic service, with the aim of providing pre-emptive advice to keep people out of the justice system. It is expected that the grant will facilitate in-depth support for around 100 people. https://www.crosslightadvice.org/ Media enquiries Desiree Maghoo Questor Consulting +44 (0)7775 522740 dmaghoo@questorconsulting.com
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Padronus Finances Collective Action Against Meta Over Illegal Surveillance

By John Freund |

Austrian litigation funder Padronus is financing the largest collective action ever filed in the German-speaking world. The case targets Meta’s illegal surveillance practices.

Together with the Austrian Consumer Protection Association (VSV) as claimant, the German law firm Baumeister & Kollegen, and the Austrian law firm Salburg Rechtsanwälte, Padronus has filed collective actions in both Germany and Austria against Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. The lawsuits challenge Meta’s extensive surveillance of the public, which, according to Padronus and VSV, violates European data protection law.

“Meta knows far more about us than we imagine – from our shopping habits and searches for medication to personal struggles. This is made possible by so-called business tools that are deployed across the internet. The U.S. corporation is present on third-party sites even when we are logged out of its platforms or when our browser settings promise privacy. This breaches the GDPR,” explains Richard Eibl, Managing Director of Padronus.

Meta generates revenue by allowing companies to place paid advertisements on Instagram and Facebook. Which ad is shown to which user depends on the user’s interests, identified by Meta’s algorithm based on platform activity and social connections. In addition, Meta has developed tools such as the “Meta Pixel,” embedded on countless third-party websites, including those dealing with sensitive personal matters. The “Conversions API” is integrated directly on web servers, meaning data collection no longer occurs on the user’s device and cannot be detected or disabled, even by technically savvy users. It bypasses cookie restrictions, incognito mode, or VPN usage.

Millions of businesses worldwide use these tools to target consumers and analyze ad effectiveness. “Use of these technologies is now omnipresent and an integral part of daily internet usage. Every user becomes uniquely identifiable to Meta at all times as soon as they browse third-party sites, even if not logged into Facebook or Instagram. Meta learns which pages and subpages are visited, what is clicked, searched, and purchased,” says Eibl. He adds: “This surveillance has gone further than George Orwell anticipated in 1984 – at least his protagonist was aware of the extent of his surveillance.”

While Meta users can configure settings on Instagram and Facebook to prevent the collected data from being used for the delivery of personalized advertising, the data itself is nevertheless already transmitted to Meta from third-party websites prior to obtaining consent to cookies. Meta then, without exception, transfers the data worldwide to third countries, in particular to the United States, where it evaluates the data to an unknown extent and passes it on to third parties such as service providers, external researchers, and authorities.

Numerous German district courts (including Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Leipzig) and more than 70 other courts have already confirmed Meta’s illegal surveillance in over 700 ongoing individual lawsuits. These first-instance rulings, achieved by lawyers Baumeister & Kollegen, are not yet final. Eibl notes: “The courts have awarded plaintiffs immaterial damages of up to €5,000. If only one in ten of the up to 50 million affected individuals in Germany joins the collective action, the dispute value rises to €25 billion. This is the largest lawsuit ever filed in the German-speaking world.”

Meta’s lack of seriousness about user privacy is well-documented. In 2023, Ireland’s data protection authority fined Meta €1.2 billion for illegal U.S. data transfers. In 2021, Luxembourg imposed a €746 million fine for misuse of user data for advertising. In 2024, Ireland again fined Meta €251 million for a major security breach. In July 2025, a U.S. lawsuit was launched against several Meta executives, demanding $8 billion in damages for systematic violations of an FTC privacy order. Richard Eibl notes: “This case goes to the heart of Meta’s business model. If we succeed, Meta will have to stop this unlawful spying in our countries.”

The new collective action mechanism for qualified entities such as VSV is a novel legal instrument. If successful, the unlawful practice must be ceased, and compensation paid to consumers who have joined the case.

The lawsuit is expected to trigger political tensions with the current protectionist U.S. administration. Only last week, the U.S. President again threatened the EU with new tariffs after the Commission imposed a €2.95 billion fine on Google. “We expect the U.S. government will also try to exert pressure in our case to shield Meta. But European data protection law is not negotiable, and we are certain we will not bow to such pressure,” says Julius Richter, also Managing Director of Padronus.

Consumers in Austria and Germany can now register at meta-klage.de and meta-klage.at to join the collective action without any cost risk. Padronus covers all litigation expenses; only in the event of success will a commission be deducted from the recovered amount.

Kerberos Named Finalist for 2025 CIO Industry Innovation Awards in Private Credit

By John Freund |

Kerberos Capital Management has been named one of only four finalists nationwide for Chief Investment Officer (CIO) magazine’s 2025 Industry Innovation Awards in the Private Credit category.

Each year, CIO magazine honors organizations that demonstrate “truly exceptional approaches to the challenges of institutional asset ownership and asset management.” This recognition highlights Kerberos’ leadership in private credit and its innovative strategies that continue to set new standards in the institutional investing market.

“We are proud to be recognized among the top firms in the country for our work in private credit,” said Joe Siprut, CEO & CIO of Kerberos Capital Management. “This acknowledgment underscores our team’s commitment to innovation, disciplined risk management, and delivering differentiated value to our investors.”

Kerberos’ inclusion as a finalist reinforces its growing national reputation as a forward-thinking investment manager that thrives on tackling complex challenges, seeking to generate alpha from complexity but not from increased risk.

About Kerberos Capital Management

Kerberos Capital Management is an SEC-registered investment adviser and alternative investment manager, providing creative solutions for those seeking capital in special situations. Kerberos’ flagship private credit strategy emphasizes legal assets and other complex collateral. Kerberos manages both a pooled vehicle and separate accounts for institutional and high net worth investors worldwide.

New North Litigation Capital Launches, Backed by £50 Million in Senior Secured Financing from Pollen Street Capital

By John Freund |

Pollen Street Capital ("Pollen Street") today announces a new senior secured credit facility of up to £50 million to New North Litigation Capital (“New North”). New North is a commercial litigation finance company and a direct subsidiary of Capital Law, a Cardiff based law firm founded in 2006.

Capital Law has a strong track record in commercial litigation, having closed over 400 claimant cases since 2001 with a 95% win rate. Drawing on its senior leadership and experienced disputes team, Capital Law launched New North to address the underserved small to mid-market segment of commercial litigation market. 

New North will be the only litigation financier in the UK owned and operated by practicing lawyers, bringing their day to day lived experience of handling mid-market litigation into pricing the risk and the funding investment decisions.

Christopher Nott, Founder and CEO of New North commented: “We are pleased to work with Pollen Street on this financing to launch New North Litigation Capital. The funding supports us to bridge a critical gap by funding claims that are often deemed too small by other players in the market. We are excited to work with the Pollen Street team as we create this new kind of litigation funding.”

Connor Marshall-Mckie, Investment Director at Pollen Street, commented:New North addresses an important gap in the litigation funding space, focusing on smaller mid-market commercial litigation. With the significant opportunity available and the deep experience of the leadership team from Capital Law we are excited to partner with the team to support their growth.”

About Pollen Street

Pollen Street is a fast-growing and high-performing private capital asset manager. Established in 2013, the firm has built deep capability across the real estate, financial and business services sectors aligned with mega-trends shaping the future of the industry. Pollen Street manages over €7bn AUM across private equity and credit strategies on behalf of investors including leading public and corporate pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, asset managers, banks, and family offices from around the world. Pollen Street has a team of over 95 professionals.