GlobeNewswire Inc | Nov 30, 2021 09:30AM EST

November 30, 2021

New York City, Nov. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Burford Capital, the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law, today announces it is further enhancing its industry-leading team and legal finance offerings to clients. In addition to new hires in New York, Washington and Chicago, Senior Vice President Dr. Jrn Eschment has relocated to Switzerland to oversee the growth of Burfords substantial business in the DACH region of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Christopher Bogart, CEO of Burford Capital, said: As the industry leader with a $4.8 billion portfolio, we continue to build Burfords team to meet the needs of our clients and the continuing growth of our business.

At Burford, we place significant emphasis on a collaborative culture, with strong intellectual and interpersonal dynamics at the heart of our organization. As we add experts to our team, we look for intelligent, thoughtful and creative individuals who always try to expand upon what is possiblewhich we believe we have found with each of these new additions.

We are pleased to announce these new hires and Jrns move to the DACH region, which continue to amplify our position as the gold standard in commercial legal finance.

The composition of Burfords global team of over 140 employees 66 of whom are lawyers reflects its category leadership as well as its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, as half of Burfords team are women, racial minorities or self-identify as LGBTQ.

Further growth of Burfords industry-leading investment team

-- Apoorva Patel has joined Burford in Washington, DC, as a Vice President with a focus on assessing legal risk in international arbitration, a topic about which he writes and speaks regularly as a leader in several global and national lawyers organizations focused on international dispute resolution. Prior to joining Burford, he was most recently Counsel in WilmerHales international arbitration and international litigation practices. Mr. Patel graduated from Harvard Law School, where he served as editor-in-chief of theHarvard Negotiation Law Review.He earned his bachelors degree in public policyfrom Duke University, where he graduatedmagna cum laude.

-- Gabriela Bersuder has joined Burford in New York as a Vice President. She previously practiced as a litigator at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, where she represented Fortune 500 companies, food and beverage manufacturers and large corporations in complex commercial litigations, arbitrations and mediations. She clerked for the Honorable John G. Koeltl (Southern District of New York) and Honorable Christopher F. Droney (SecondCircuit). Ms. Bersuder earned her law degree from Duke University School of Law and her bachelors degree in political science from Columbia University. -- Peter McLaughlin has joined Burford in Chicago as a Vice President. Prior to Burford, he was a litigator at Sidley Austin, where he specialized in conducting investigations related to securities and healthcare regulation and served as counsel for jury trials, bankruptcy proceedings and arbitration hearings. He clerked for the Honorable James B. Zagel of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Prior to earning a law degree from Northwestern University School of Law, he was a trading analyst at Credit Suisse. Mr. McLaughlin is a graduate of Georgetown University.

Dedicated staff to pursue business opportunities in DACH region

-- Dr. Jrn Eschment, Senior Vice President, has relocated to Zug, Switzerland, to oversee the growth of Burfords substantial business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Prior to joining Burfords investment team in London in 2018, he practiced international commercial arbitration and litigation at Herbert Smith Freehills in Hong Kong and at Schellenberg Wittmer in Zurich. Dr. Eschment read law at the universities of Freiburg, Liverpool, Marburg and Passau, graduating with the German Staatsexamen, an LLM in European law and a doctorate in public international law, all with distinction. He also holds a masters from the War Studies Department at Kings College London.

Additional talent augments new business origination team

-- Bill Walker has joined Burford in Washington, DC, as a Director, building on a career spanning consulting, in-house and law firm roles. Most recently he expanded Deloittes law-focused business development efforts with key clients at Fortune 500 companies, publicly traded middle-market companies and law firms. Previously he founded Ansun Management Partners, a boutique professional services firm, was a corporate attorney specializing in complex corporate transactions at several large multi-national law firms and was an in-house lawyer at the American Red Cross. Mr. Walker earned his JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he served as articles editor of the Connecticut Journal of International Law, and his bachelors in economics from College of the Holy Cross.

Global organization strengthened with top talent across business functions

-- Chermia S. Hoeffner has joined Burford as Vice President, Human Resources. Prior to joining Burford, she was Head of Human Resources at the National Audubon Society, where she led the human resources team, implemented organization-level job architecture and developed policies, procedures and initiatives crucial to the overall strategy at Audubon. Ms. Hoeffner has also worked in human resources roles at TIAA-CREF, Mercer and Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. She has over two decades of experience managing a broad range of HR functions at global organizations. Ms. Hoeffner graduated with an MBA in management from Pace University and a bachelors in English from SUNY-Albany.

-- David Helfenbein has joined Burford as Vice President, Public Relations. He has over a decade of experience in litigation and legal communication, crisis management, public affairs, government relations and public policy.Prior to joining Burford, he worked as an Associate Director at Finsbury Glover Hering and held senior roles at several public relations firms and branding agencies. He began his career working in the US Senate, followed by the US Department of State. Mr. Helfenbein earned his law degree from the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis and his bachelors degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.

-- Ilya Podolskiy, CPA, CGMA, CRMA, Cr. FAC, has joined Burford as Vice President, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Compliance. Mr. Podolskiy has over a decade of experience implementing audit and SOX strategies. He was previously a SOX Manager for Sirius Group and for Assured Guaranty. Prior to that, Mr. Podolskiy held roles with internal audit functions including Senior Internal Auditor for American International Group (AIG) and Tokyo Marine North American Services (TMNAS). Mr. Podolskiy earned his bachelors in accounting from CUNY Hunter College and his masters in taxation from Villanova School of Law.

-- Phillip Lu has joined as Head of Burfords Project Management Office, with responsibility for Burfords program/project management, business analysis and strategic planning capabilities. He was previously a Director at KPMG, where he evaluated and developed new digital and data strategies, technologies and business models; he also served as a Senior Manager at EY. Mr. Lu began his career as a management consultant and held technology strategy and project management roles at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. He earned his bachelors in economics from New York University.

END

About Burford Capital

Burford Capital is the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law. Its businesses includelitigation financeandrisk management,asset recoveryand a wide range of legal finance and advisory activities. Burford is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUR) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: BUR), and it works with companies and law firms around the world from its principal offices in New York, London, Chicago, Washington, Singapore and Sydney.

For more information, please visitwww.burfordcapital.com.

This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any ordinary shares or other securities of Burford.

David HelfenbeinBurford Capital LLC+1 212 235 6824dhelfenbein@burfordcapital.com