Bentham IMF names Allison Chock as Chief Investment Officer, setting stage for further growth and development in the US
Bentham IMF announced today that Allison Chock has been named as the new Chief Investment Officer for the company. Allison steps into the role after serving for almost four years as an Investment Manager and head of Bentham’s Los Angeles office.
NEW YORK, April 27, 2017: Bentham IMF today announced the promotion of Allison Chock to the role of Chief Investment Officer and Legal Counsel, with responsibility for overseeing investment management and due diligence processes across the company’s four US offices. Ms Chock steps into the role after serving for almost four years as an Investment Manager and head of Bentham’s Los Angeles office. She takes the CIO reins from Ralph J. Sutton, who is leaving the company to pursue other ventures.
“Since entering the U.S. market in 2011, our business has grown enormously, from a small start-up breaking into a new market, to one of the leaders of the litigation funding industry,” said Andrew Saker, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IMF Bentham, the parent company of Bentham IMF. “Allison has been instrumental in recent advances we have made towards positioning the company for continued success. We are confident that she is the right candidate to guide decisions pertaining to our US investment portfolio as we build for the future.”
Ms Chock’s elevation to CIO is one of several major moves that Bentham has made in recent months, with other notable developments including the launch of a new $200 million litigation finance vehicle exclusively dedicated to funding US cases and matters, and the opening of a Houston office.
“We continue to see increasing demand for litigation funding across the U.S. market,” said Charlie Gollow, Bentham IMF’s US Chief Executive. “Allison is well-equipped to oversee the company’s assessment of investment opportunities as we meet this demand with larger scale, more frequent investments in individual cases and law firm portfolios.” Allison’s successful investments to date include a nine-figure settlement to an individual plaintiff in a breach of fiduciary duty case.
Ms Chock began her legal career as a litigation associate at Latham & Watkins. In 2003, she joined renowned litigation boutique firm Hennigan, Bennett & Dorman LLP, where she made partner in 2008. The Hennigan firm later merged with McKool Smith, P.C. At Hennigan (and later at McKool), Ms Chock handled large-scale opt-out securities fraud actions for private institutional investor clients and other complex commercial business disputes. Her litigation experience spans multiple jurisdictions, including California, New York and Texas.
“The litigation finance industry has grown considerably since I joined it with the opening of Bentham’s Los Angeles office in 2013. I’m honored to become Chief Investment Officer of a company that has been and will continue to be at the forefront of that growth,” Ms Chock said. “With our recently launched fund and expansion into new markets, we are well-positioned to advance the industry as litigation finance becomes integral to the legal landscape – among businesses, law firms, individual claimants and investors.”
About Bentham IMF
Bentham IMF is the US arm of publicly listed IMF Bentham Limited (ASX: IMF), one of the most successful litigation funding companies in the world, with a portfolio that has a total claim size value of $3.3 billion AUD. Together, our companies have 11 offices throughout the U.S., Australia, Canada and Asia and provide funding to clients in jurisdictions including the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. We have reviewed thousands of commercial cases in the past 16 years, funding to completion more than 157 cases and generating over $2 billion AUD in recoveries. We have achieved a 90% success rate, with clients utilizing our funding retaining an average of 63% of all case proceeds.