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Bentham IMF, the U.S. arm of Australian litigation funder IMF Bentham Ltd., on Wednesday announced its third round of new hires since the December 2018 launch of a $500 million fund directed to domestic investments.

The firm is bringing on board Stephanie Southwick, formerly the managing partner at Silicon Valley IP boutique Greenfield Southwick, as an investment manager and legal counsel in San Francisco. It is also adding Nilufar Hossain, former acting general counsel at social enterprise Prakti, as legal counsel in New York.

Bentham U.S. chief investment officer Allison Chock had said after the last round of hiring in January that the company was likely done for 2019. But the addition of Hossain turned out to be necessary to support the work of Dana MacGrath, who joined then from Sidley Austin to bolster Bentham's investments in international arbitration.

"We wanted to make sure she had the resources to vet some of the matters she's been bringing in for due diligence," Chock said.

Hossain previously practiced international arbitration and commercial litigation at King & Spalding and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and has experience representing U.S. and foreign clients in natural resources, pharmaceuticals, technology, and construction disputes.

With Southwick, Chock said there was a good degree of opportunism in the hire, noting that the attorney is a good contact of Matt Harrison, the investment manager who leads Bentham's San Francisco office.

"One of the things we're seeing a lot of is large-scale trade secrets matters. There are big verdicts up on appeal we've been monetizing and also some pre-judgement litigation," she said. "It seemed like the perfect storm to add some more resources to the office and the practice area in particular."

Southwick has 16 years of experience as a litigator, representing the companies most commonly bringing trade secret claims—startups, tech companies and manufacturers. She also has represented VCs, real estate developers, family offices, directors and officers and professional partnerships.

With the latest round of hires, Bentham's 11-person senior investment management team in the U.S., all lawyers in business-generating roles, is now majority female.

Chock said that while she would be "shocked" if the firm made any more hires in 2019, it was eyeing Washington, D.C., for future additions, potentially in 2020. Bentham is seeing an increasing number of opportunities coming out of the capital region, across a range of practice areas.

"Lawyers in that area, who are generally more conservative, are now beginning to embrace [litigation finance]," she said, as the practice of accepting outside funding has become more "accepted, customary and usual."

"They're getting more comfortable with it," she added.

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