AUGUSTA VENTURES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- London / Head of Construction & Energy ( Solicitor )
Andrew manages Augusta's investments in disputes across the global construction and energy sectors, including arbitration, litigation and adjudication claims. He has a particular focus on high-value international arbitrations and portfolio financing solutions for construction companies.
Prior to joining Augusta, Andrew was a construction disputes lawyer with leading international firms Akin Gump and Pinsent Masons, having conducted arbitrations under various institutional rules across the Middle East, Europe and South America, litigation in the English, New Zealand and DIFC courts, adjudications, project advisory work, and secondment to a major international contractor. Andrew has substantial experience of EPC contracts and most standard form construction and engineering contracts.
Andrew is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand and holds an LLB and a BA from Victoria University of Wellington.
Job Titles:
- Investment Manager in the Structured Products Team at Augusta 's London
- London / Investment Manager
Ashish is an Investment Manager in the Structured Products team at Augusta's London office. He oversees deal origination, due diligence, structuring, and investments focused on consumer litigation and portfolio financing solutions across the UK and Europe.
Ashish joined Augusta from Aviva Investors, where he was part of the Real Assets and Private Credit Investments/Risk group. Prior to Aviva, he was a Principal at North Wall Capital, an alternative credit fund in London, where he did distressed real estate and special situations investments. Previously, as a Vice President at Hudson Advisors/Lone Star Funds, he led distressed credit investments across Europe. Prior to that he traded Asset Backed Securities and CLOs at RiverRock Securities, a European alternative investment firm.
Ashish started his career at JP Morgan Chase, holds an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and is a CFA Charterholder.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant
- Toronto / Executive Assistant
Celine is Executive Assistant to the Head of Country at Augusta Ventures, the UK's largest litigation funder by case volume. Based in Toronto, Canada, Celine is responsible for providing administrative support in helping achieve exceptional business results. She enjoys supporting teams who lead culture, client relations and corporate events.
Prior to Augusta, Celine worked in the HVAC, legal, financial, and engineering industries providing daily support to management and senior executives. She graduated from Humber College -Toronto, with a Diploma in Paralegal Education in 2018. When she's out of office, Celine enjoys travelling and embracing new cultures, cooking authentic home-made meals, and spending quality time with her loved ones.
Job Titles:
- Augusta in 2018 As an Investment Associate
- Legal Operations Co - Ordinator at Augusta
- London / Legal Operations Co - Ordinator
Chantal is an experienced Legal Operations Co-Ordinator at Augusta and is responsible for providing project management support to the Global Investment Team on potential funding opportunities.
Chantal is responsible for tracking and reporting on the pipeline of proposed investments, monitoring Portfolio concentration limits, co-ordinating internal investment committees and liaising with Augusta's investors. She works closely with the Senior Management Team to produce monthly reports for the Board and Investors and is responsible for the day to day operation of the Conflicts policy in relation to new investments.
Chantal also supports wider process improvements as part of the Legal Operations Team and assists with the implementation of new technology within the business.
Chantal joined Augusta in 2018 as an Investment Associate in the Originations Team where she assisted with preliminary due diligence on new claims being assessed for funding.
Chantal holds an LLB (Hons) from the University of Exeter.
Job Titles:
- London / Finance Director
Chris is the Finance Director within the Corporate team at Augusta, focussing on delivering high quality financial information to the senior management team and the wider organisation.
Before joining Augusta, Chris was the Group Finance Director at wealth manager Ameera Private Wealth, where he led on finance both internally and externally with direct involvement in client advice and investment portfolio reporting for high net worth individuals and corporates. Prior to that, he was a Manager at accountancy firm Blick Rothenberg, where he managed a portfolio of UK and multi-national companies and groups across a variety of sectors including Investment Management, Technology, Consultancy and Real Estate.
Chris has an MA in Mathematics and Computation from the University of Oxford and is a Chartered Accountant, qualifying in 2006 and graduating to an FCA in 2016.
Job Titles:
- London / Investment Manager ( Solicitor - NSW )
Chris is an Investment Manager in the Diligence Team at Augusta, the UK's largest Litigation Funder by case volume. His expertise lies in financial product disputes and more specifically, interest rate hedging product and CDO litigation. He also has a broad range of experience in general commercial litigation including banking and finance, insolvency, breach of contract, unfair prejudice, professional negligence, intellectual property and energy. Since working at Augusta, Chris has been heavily involved in managing the due diligence and structuring of funding propositions in relation to bulk claims in Spain arising out of the global financial crisis.
Prior to joining Augusta, Chris worked in private practice in Sydney at Piper Alderman and Watson Mangioni on a range of disputes including managing an AUD $200m funded class action by over seventy claimants against Lehman Brothers in relation to the mis-sale of CDO products, with a successful outcome for the claimants. While in private practice, Chris worked closely with litigation funders and he understands the needs and drivers of litigants and their legal teams when dealing with funders. More recently Chris worked for Barclays Bank on a portfolio of interest rate swap and FX claims where he obtained a deep understanding of costs issues, After the Event insurance (ATE) and was heavily involved in alternative dispute resolution.
Chris holds a Bachelor of Law/Bachelor of Business Administration from Macquarie University.
Job Titles:
- Financial Economist
- London / Investment Manager - Economics
Clara Segurola is a financial economist with more than 15 years of professional experience. She is responsible for assessing the economic and quantum aspects of funded cases and cases for funding. She is recognised as one of the Most Highly Regarded Expert Witnesses in the Future Leaders category of Who's Who Legal Arbitration survey for her "strong track record of valuations and quantifications of damages from across various industry sectors".
Prior to joining Augusta, Clara worked as an Associate Director for NERA Economic Consulting, where she specialised in the assessment and quantification of damages in international disputes.
In the areas of litigation and international arbitration, Clara's work encompassed assessment and quantification of damages, including loss of profits, consequential losses and loss of business opportunities, business valuation, and valuation of real assets in the context of political intervention. She also provided profitability assessments and economic analyses of the regulatory framework in the context of disputes in regulated sectors.
Clara's work has covered a broad range of industries, including utilities, energy, transport, infrastructure, financial services, consumer goods, IT services, manufacturing and distribution across Western and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. She has worked on matters before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), on ad hoc arbitrations under UNCITRAL Rules, and before the Commercial Court of England and Wales and Spanish commercial courts, and she has provided oral testimony (both direct testimony and in cross-examination).
Clara holds a Master's degree in Economics and Finance from the Spanish Centre of Monetary and Financial Studies (CEMFI), a Master's in Banking and Finance from the French University of Nantes and is fluent in English, Spanish, and French.
Job Titles:
- Investment Associate
- Toronto / Investment Associate ( Lawyer )
Constance is an Investment Associate (Lawyer) in the Toronto office. Constance is responsible for undertaking preliminary due diligence on new commercial litigation cases and performs monitoring functions in relation to approved investments in the Canada business.
Prior to joining Augusta, Constance was a Contract Lawyer with a large eDiscovery firm where she provided litigation support in document review and management for law firm clients. She has also practiced in administrative law and immigration and has successfully represented clients before tribunals and appellate boards.
Constance received her Juris Doctor degree in law from Osgoode Hall Law School. She was admitted to the Ontario bar in 2018. Constance is a member of the Canadian Bar Association. She also holds a Specialized Honors degree in Psychology from York University and graduated as a member on the Dean's Honor Roll.
Job Titles:
- Financial Controller
- London / Financial Controller
Dev is the Financial Controller within the London based Finance team at Augusta. He is responsible for providing financial information to both internal and external stakeholders.
Prior to joining Augusta, Dev was the European Group Finance Manager at Wilmington Trust (member of M&T Bank), a company which specialises in loan agency and structured finance services. He led the finance team and oversaw the financial requirements for the European entities from management to statutory reporting.
Dev has a BSc (Hons) degree in Business and Management (Accounting) from Brunel University and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Origination Team
- Toronto / Investment Manager ( Lawyer )
Emilie is a member of the Origination Team in Toronto. As an Investment Manager, Emilie evaluates the legal and commercial merits of cases to help connect litigants with the funds they need to enforce their rights.
Emilie is particularly focused on Canadian and US class action/mass tort litigation and developing funding solutions that lessen the financial burdens of complex class proceedings. She also works with the UK Structured Projects Team to find ways to use technology and economies of scale to provide consumers with access to justice both within and outside the court system.
Before joining Augusta, Emilie was a lawyer with Siskinds LLP, a top Canadian plaintiff-side class actions firm, where she prosecuted consumer, securities, price-fixing, pharmaceutical, and environmental class actions. Her notable work includes the Volkswagen emissions settlements, the UPS "brokerage fees" litigation, and the appeals concerning misrepresentations in take-over bid circulars, jurisdiction over foreign class members/global class actions, and the application of discoverability to the civil liability provisions of the Canada's Competition Act.
Emilie has a particular interest in legal innovation. She is a member of the CBA Legal Futures Subcommittee and a co-organiser of the London, Ontario chapter of the Legal Hackers movement. Emilie received her law degree from the University of Toronto, and was admitted to the Ontario bar in 2011. She also holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Library and Information Science from Western University.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant
- London / Executive Assistant
Emily is Executive Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Augusta, the UK's largest Litigation Funder by case volume. She is responsible for providing support and assistance in the day-to-day running of the business, maintaining UK and overseas client relationships, as well as managing and coordinating diaries at C-Suite level.
Emily has previous experience providing Director support in the Property & Finance sectors and graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London with a BA English Literature.
Job Titles:
- London / Head of Core Investments ( Solicitor )
Fiona leads the Diligence and Monitoring Teams at Augusta the UK's largest Litigation Funder by case volume. The Diligence Team assess the merits of cases for funding and manage cases through our review and approval process. Fiona works with the team to ensure we deliver an excellent service to claimants and law firms. In her personal capacity, Fiona has worked on a wide variety of cases including investor state arbitrations, breach of contract disputes, professional negligence claims and large multi-party claims. The Monitoring Team look after funded cases through to resolution and Fiona works with them to provide assistance to law firms and clients throughout the process.
Prior to joining Augusta, Fiona was a Partner at Plexus Law and before that she was a Partner at Pinsent Masons for many years specialising in a wide range of commercial disputes with particular expertise in professional indemnity claims.
Fiona holds an LLB from the University of Sheffield.
Job Titles:
- Chief Investment Officer of Augusta
- London / Chief Investment Officer
Gian is Chief Investment Officer of Augusta and based in the firm's London office. He oversees origination, investments, investment strategy and capital relationships for Augusta.
Gian joins Augusta from Syz Capital in Zürich, where he built out a legal assets investment platform focused on litigation funding and law firm lending. Prior to Syz, Gian was a Director at Multiplicity Partners AG, a leading special situations advisor in Europe, where he structured litigation investments. Previously, he was Director of Sourcing for VALTEGRA LLP, a European turnaround private equity fund. In 2011, he launched the European office for Brigade Capital Management in Zurich, where he managed distressed credit investments across Europe.
Gian Kull started his career at Merrill Lynch and holds a BSFS from Georgetown University.
Job Titles:
- Investment Manager
- London / Investment Manager ( Solicitor )
Glyn is an Investment Manager in the Diligence Team and a Solicitor of the Courts of England and Wales. He assesses the suitability of matters for Augusta's investment and manages the review of each matter before it is approved for our funding. Since joining Augusta, Glyn has reviewed a wide variety of general commercial litigation and international arbitration matters relating to various areas including energy, aerospace and defence and insolvency.
Prior to joining Augusta, Glyn spent 16 years in private practice at King & Spalding, Bird & Bird and DLA Piper. While in private practice, Glyn worked on multi-jurisdictional matters for high-net-worth individuals, international companies, directors, shareholders and partnerships. Glyn specialised in dispute evaluation and resolution in a wide variety of general commercial litigation matters and advised clients in areas including energy, aerospace and defence, technology and communications, and banking and finance disputes. Glyn also has considerable experience of resolving disputes by arbitration, mediation and negotiation.
Glyn holds an LLB (Hons) from Brunel University.
Job Titles:
- Investment Manager
- London / Investment Manager ( Solicitor )
Greg is an Investment Manager in the Commercial Litigation team with a particular focus on funding large-scale group litigation.
Job Titles:
- Head of Group Litigation
- London / Head of Group
Jacqueline is Head of Group Litigation and focuses on identifying, structuring and financing large-scale, group actions.
Before joining Augusta, the UK's largest Litigation Funder by case volume, Jacqueline was Head of Group Litigation at Slater and Gordon Lawyers, where she acquired over 20 years of commercial litigation experience. In the early years of Jacqueline's career, she was predominantly a media lawyer engaged in claims against national broadcasters and newspapers in relation to defamation, data protection and privacy claims. She regularly acted on behalf of The Police Federation of England and Wales, members of Parliament, Chief Executives and represented numerous individuals in carrying out reputation management, ensuring information was not published by the press or was vetted pre-publication.
Over the past decade, Jacqueline has focused on group litigation claims and has been involved in numerous claims covering a wide range of disciplines, including: leading the largest claimant group in pursuing Volkswagen in relation to the emissions scandal; claims against the British Government arising from atrocities committed as a result of the Kenyan ‘Mau Mau' uprising; claims brought by those afflicted by the side effects of the anti-morning sickness drug Thalidomide.
Job Titles:
- General Counsel
- London / General Counsel
Jayne Sheffield is the General Counsel based in Augusta's London office. She provides legal advice to the business and works closely with senior management on the legal aspects of investments and firm-wide strategic projects.
Prior to joining Augusta, Jayne spent over 10 years in the Business Restructuring and Insolvency team at Hogan Lovells International LLP where she acted for a range of stakeholders including banks, hedge funds, sponsors, non-bank institutional investors, insolvency practitioners and large corporates. Jayne's experience includes advising on a wide variety of transactional and advisory matters including cross-border and domestic lender-led restructurings, non-distressed lending, considering risks of potential investments and structuring lending and security packages to mitigate such risks and pre-packaged administrations in a diverse range of sectors. In 2015, Jayne was seconded to Barclays Bank PLC for 6 months. Jayne also trained with Hogan Lovells and completed a 6-month secondment in the firm's Hong Kong office as part of her training contract.
Jayne holds an LLB (Hons) in Law from The University of Warwick. Jayne completed The Legal Practice Course at the College of Law, London.
Job Titles:
- Augusta 's Human Resources Business Partner
- London / Human Resources Manager
Joanna is Augusta's Human Resources Business Partner and she helps develop, maintain and enhance the company's Human Resources function. Working alongside the Directors, Joanna has designed policies and procedures for Augusta and provides internal practical HR support and advice while helping to expand the Company by 100% in the past 18 months. Before moving into this role, Joanna was the Operations Manager, tracking and managing deployment of cases through the business divisions whilst ensuring the smooth running and implementation of processes and procedures throughout Augusta.
Prior to joining Augusta in 2015, Joanna worked for Groupon UK & IE and TUI Travel, where she was responsible for day-to-day operational management and support.
Joanna holds an LLB from the University of East Anglia. Last year, Joanna successfully completed her studies for the Level 3 CIPD qualification and is working towards studying for the Level 5 qualification.
Job Titles:
- London / Interim Executive Assistant - Manager
Laura is Interim Executive Assistant Manager to the Managing Directors, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Investment Officer at Augusta, the UK's largest Litigation Funder by case volume. She is responsible for providing support and assistance in the day-to-day running of the business, maintaining UK and overseas client relationships, as well as managing and coordinating diaries at C-Suite level. In addition to working closely with the Senior Management team, Laura is directly involved in managing the wider EA function within the Business Support Group.
Laura qualified as a Legal Assistant in 2012 specializing in Corporate Litigation, Criminal Defence, Family Law and Commercial / Residential Real Estate and brings substantial pa and legal experience to her position.
Prior to joining Augusta, Laura spent 9 years in the legal industry working as a Senior Legal Assistant at the likes of Addleshaw Goddard, Gowlings WLG, CMS Nabarro Olswang, HSBC Bank and more recently, worked within Arbitration, Mergers and Acquisitions and Corporate Banking in the Middle East with White & Case and Jones Day.
Job Titles:
- London / Interim HR Manager
Lilia has joined Augusta on an interim maternity contract to support the HR function.
For the past few years, she has worked on various contracts for global entities including start-ups and ventures in industries such as Software Tech, Financial Services, Legal, London City & Urban Planning, and Shipping. Prior to contracting Lilia worked for Accenture for over 9 years.
Lilia has a degree in Psychology from San Diego State University in California she is a Chartered member of the CIPD and is qualified with over 15 years of experience in HR Management across different sectors.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder of Augusta
- London / Chief Executive Officer
Louis is a co-founder of Augusta, the UK's largest Litigation Funder by case volume and oversees the Origination Team. He has extensive experience in investment banking, fund management, company start-up and restructuring arenas.
Prior to founding Augusta, Louis was CEO of another third party litigation fund as well as COO of Normandy Capital Management and MD of a number of international and Australian businesses including Australian Gold Holdings, Colonial Building Company and Steelview. Louis also spent 17 years working in Asia and Africa, where he established and successfully sold two businesses, DrillintiTiko and Drillinti Africa.
Louis is listed as a notable practitioner in Chambers & Partners and is included in the 2020 Lawdragon Global 100 Leaders in Legal Finance guide.
Louis holds an MBA and an LLB from Bond University.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the Managing Directors
- London / Executive Assistant - Manager
Lucy is Executive Assistant to the Managing Directors and Chief Operating Officer at Augusta, the UK's largest Litigation Funder by case volume. She is responsible for providing support and assistance in the day-to-day running of the business, maintaining UK and overseas client relationships, as well as managing and coordinating the Directors' and COO schedules. Lucy also provides support towards the Company Secretary administration of the business. In addition to working closely with the Senior Management team, Lucy is directly involved in managing the wider EA function within the Business Support group.
Previously, Lucy worked within the real estate industry having formerly worked for Knight Frank as a Personal Assistant and Office Manager.
Job Titles:
- Augusta 's Head of Resolutions
- London / Head of Resolutions ( Solicitor )
Mark is Augusta's Head of Resolutions, as well as being a permanent member of Augusta's New Business Committee.
He is recognised as a Thought Leader in ‘Who's Who Legal Third-Party Funding' 2020 & 2021, and is listed in Legal Week's Private Client Global Elite Directory 2022/2023.
Prior to joining Augusta, Mark spent over 15 years working as a dispute resolution lawyer at City law firms Clyde & Co and Ince & Co. During his time in private practice, Mark gained extensive experience of high-value, complex and often multi-jurisdictional arbitration and litigation, with an emphasis on offshore energy and shipping disputes, and construction and infrastructure disputes. He was also a BIMCO drafting committee member; he lectured on offshore energy related issues at home and abroad; and he has had legal articles published in a wide range of trade publications.
Mark graduated in Law (LLB Hons) from the University of Exeter.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer of Augusta
- London / Chief Financial Officer
Matthew James is the Chief Financial Officer of Augusta and leads the London-based Finance team. As a member of the ExCom, Matthew works with his senior management colleagues in strategy management, business planning and implementation.
Matthew has worked in Finance and Operations in the Investment Management industry for over 25years and, prior to joining Augusta, was Director of Finance and Operations for Elevation Advisors LLP. He is a Fellow of the Association of the Chartered Certified Accountants and holds a BSc in Economics and Accounting from the University of Reading.
Job Titles:
- London / Head of Investment Pricing and Modelling
Job Titles:
- London / Investment Manager
Max is an Investment Manager in the Origination Team and is responsible for investment analysis and structuring of consumer litigation and portfolio financing solutions. Over a number of years, Max has incepted several financing facilities to cater for claims which cannot be aggregated into a Group Litigation Order and would be ineligible for stand-alone funding. This flexible financing approach can be applied to cases of a similar nature or against a common defendant, irrespective of size, sectors or jurisdictions.
Prior to joining Augusta, Max worked at Advocates for International Development where he brokered pro bono legal advice between city and international law firms and international development organisations.
Max holds a BA (Hons) in Philosophy and French from the University of Bristol and completed his GDL at BPP Law School.
Job Titles:
- Toronto / Head of Country - Canada
Max is responsible for the development of Augusta's operations in Canada and rejoins the company.
He has over 30 years experience in fund management and alternative credit markets. Prior to Augusta, Max ran two large family offices in Canada and has been an investor across multiple asset classes including early stage litigation funding. During his career he has worked extensively in banking and securitisation markets, former employers include Standard Chartered Bank, ABN AMRO Bank and Bankgesellschaft Berlin.
Max holds a B.COMM and M.B.S (Banking & Finance) from UCD in Ireland and lives in Toronto with his family.
Job Titles:
- Head of Corporate Development
- London / Head of Corporate Development
Michael is the Head of Corporate Development based in Augusta's London office. He oversees and implements all corporate development projects to align with the firm's strategy including capital raising, fund, investment and insurance product structuring, strategic partnerships and M&A.
Prior to joining Augusta, Michael held several technical engineering and project roles while working for BHP in the Australian resources sector, where he was responsible for identification and implementation of major strategic capital infrastructure projects. He was also a consultant to Bombardier in the UK rail industry responsible for implementation of continuous improvement engineering projects.
Michael holds a BEng (Hons) from Flinders University and an MBA from the Australian Institute of Business.
Job Titles:
- Legal Counsel at Augusta
- London / Legal Counsel
Minakshi is the Legal Counsel at Augusta, the UK's largest Litigation Funder by case volume. She is responsible for providing legal advice to the Investment Managers, Investor Relations team and other members of the business. Minakshi also assists the Chief Operating Officer with Augusta's compliance obligations.
Prior to joining Augusta, Minakshi completed her training contract and spent time as a finance lawyer at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP and Dechert LLP.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder of Augusta
- Sydney / Head of Country - Australia
Neill is a co-founder of Augusta and oversees the claim diligence and monitoring functions of the business. He has over 30 years' experience in the finance market. Neill oversees the origination functions and strategic development of the Australian business and maintains active participation in the management of the UK business. He has over seven years' experience in litigation funding.
Prior to founding Augusta, Neill worked for HSBC Alternative Investments where he was Head of Sales and Marketing. He was also CEO and founding partner of Armajaro Asset Management, a $1.5bn hedge fund management group. Neill previously held roles at EIM UK assessing potential hedge fund investments and was Managing Director for Quantitative Research at Salomon Smith Barney in both Australia and London. In the early part of his career, Neill was a Derivatives Manager within the investment team at Royal & Sun Alliance in Australia.
Neill holds a BEc from the University of Western Australia and an MCom from the University of New South Wales.
Job Titles:
- London / Investment Manager ( Solicitor )
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- London / Chief Operating Officer
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- London / Head of Business Development
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- London / Junior Investment Analyst
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- London / Head of Commercial Litigation & Arbitration ( Solicitor - England & Wales ) )
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- London / Head of Competition ( Solicitor )
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- London / Investment Associate
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- London / Financial Analyst
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- London / Legal Operations Manager
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- London / Investment Team Assistant