Meet the Spectra Legal team

JOHN ROSSOS / Chairman & CEO / SpectraLegal (Ireland) Ltd

John P Rossos

Chairman & CEO
SpectraLegal (Ireland) Ltd
+1 416 941 9485
rossos@spectralegalireland.com

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John co-founded BridgePoint Financial Services Inc. in August 2005 and has led the development of new financing and indemnity products and BridgePoint’s entry into new markets in Europe and the Caribbean. He was responsible for introducing financing and indemnity protection for class actions in Canada, which ultimately led to the creation of BICO Risk Management (formerly BridgePoint Indemnity Company or BICO).

BICO has pioneered legal cost protection in Canada offering protection for both legal practices and a broad cross section of legal claims covering virtually all areas of law. John had also identified an opportunity to enter the U.K. legal services market drawing on BridgePoint’s expertise with the adoption of the Ontario Model by the U.K government. This led to the formation of SpectraLegal, set up to provide finance to the U.K. legal services market. He is the Chairman and CEO for BICO and SpectraLegal (Ireland) Ltd. based in Ireland.

He has published articles relating to emerging trends in litigation finance including third party financing for class action litigation and has presented at various conferences both domestically and internationally including the RAND Institute for Civil Justice Program dealing with Alternative Litigation Finance. He has a strong legal and financial background holding a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto, and a law degree from Queen’s University. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst. John is a member of the Ontario Bar, having been called in March 1994.

James Penturn

President
+44 (0)207 096 4225
penturn@spectralegal.co.uk

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Jim is the President of SpectraLegal Limited in the UK. Jim has responsibility for strategy and managing investor relations.

Jim has decades of experience working with management to successfully raise and administer debt, equity and insurance to finance over $1 billion for knowledge based businesses offering unique services. He currently chairs the strategic advisory committee of an international multifamily office that he co-founded. He has been a director of several Canadian publicly listed companies where he sat on executive, audit, governance and compensation committees.

Jim has also been appointed as a director to a number of BridgePoint affiliated entities including BridgePoint Global Litigation Services Inc., BridgePoint Indemnity Company
(Barbados) Inc., and BridgePoint Indemnity Company (Canada) Inc.
As well as having a BA (with Honours) from the University of Toronto, Jim has over 30 years’ experience in merchant banking, real property and strategic advisory services as both a principal and agent.

rowan Duke

COO
+44 (0)20 7043 0746
duke@spectralegal.co.uk

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Rowan has over 25 years in the Financial Services industry, primarily in banking where he has held senior Structured Finance and COO roles. Within the Corporate and Investment Banking environment, Rowan has held various senior Structured Finance roles primarily in property and consumer finance. Recent roles have been COO in a tier 1 bank with responsibility for their Global Transactional Sales (GTS) business, UK Corporate Business and Head of UK Business Management.

More recently Rowan has undertaken a COO and Board role for TORI Global, a global Financial Services consultancy business where he has been instrumental in the business growth and international expansion.

Matthew Gwynne

Director, Business Development and Client Relations
+44 (0)20 7043 0746
gwynne@spectralegal.co.uk

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Matt is Director of Business Development and Client Relations and has responsibility for supervising and managing the operations of the Business with specific reference to the development of client relationships, marketing strategies and expanding the product offering.He has a rich and varied lending background that has included areas as diverse as property, sports and media and commercial litigation and has over 15 years of client relationship experience. Matt was a key part of Investec’s involvement and entry into funding the legal sector and during this time he helped develop and implement innovative litigation funding solutions as well as creating other new financing products specifically for the legal sector. More recently at Standard Chartered Bank, Matt was responsible for building new products to suit the needs of partners of accountancy firms within some of the larger Bank relationships.

Matt is comfortable with the intellectual challenges of generating innovative but prudent and secure solutions to client requirements. His experience has taught him that “one size does not fit all” but that few problems are insoluble and his primary objective is the identification and implementation of those solutions. This inevitably requires a close client relationship and the building of those relationships he regards as one of the pleasures of the position.

Brendan Connolly

Finance Director
SpectraLegal (Ireland) Ltd
connolly@spectralegalireland.com

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Brendan joined SpectraLegal in March 2015 to lead its Finance and Operations function in Dublin, Ireland.

Brendan is a Chartered Accountant (FCA) with over 20 years’ experience in senior Finance roles gained at global European and US financial institutions, including 15 years’ exposure to Credit/Capital markets and structured finance activities. Immediately prior to joining SpectraLegal, he led the Controllership function at the pan-European shared services centre of US bank, CIT, for 2 years.

Brendan has additionally led Finance functions at BNP Paribas in Jersey, C.I. (3 years), BBL Ireland (5 years), and the Dublin-based asset management business of German bank, LBBW (7 years). Brendan’s career also features significant outsourcing and client services experience, gained through 3 years as Vice President of the accounting services division at Citigroup Treasury Solutions.

As well as being a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, Brendan is a graduate of University College Dublin, and holds further qualifications in both Corporate Treasury and IFRS.