The Team

Before leaving to form Apex Litigation Finance in November 2018, Maurice led the successful launch of Ferguson Litigation Funding Limited in 2016 and quickly established that new business as a credible and trusted provider within the global litigation funding market.

Since 2013 Maurice has also been the Managing Director of Ferguson Financial Solicitors, during which time the firm has established itself as a major partner to the UK insolvency sector.

Prior to joining Ferguson Financial Solicitors, Maurice spent 16 years in the UK motor claims sector, primarily managing national sales teams for LSE listed companies Helphire Group plc and Accident Exchange plc.

Tim has 33 years experience in the finance sector. Having worked on both the buy (Black River Asset Management, Noble Resources) and sell sides (Chase, ABN, UBS, ING), with the last 15 years running external or internal Macros Hedge Funds. Over half of his career has been in Asia and Tim’s expertise in setting up and managing a fund will help provide a robust and secure framework to the operating process of the Apex funds.

Stephen has specialised in credit, debt and insolvency work since 1987, and has extensive experience in dealing with the full range of these procedures. Prior to setting up his own consultancy, he was a Business Recovery and Insolvency partner at a major law firm. As well as acting as a Consultant to the legal profession, he also pursues many other projects in the legal, insolvency and credit fields and is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Law.

In addition to being a Solicitor Licensed Insolvency Practitioner, he has previously been an Associate Member of the Association of Property and Fixed Charge Receivers.

Stephen was appointed Chairman of the Board of The Insolvency Service in January 2017 and is also the Chairman of the Joint Insolvency Examination Board (JIEB); the Deputy Independent Examiner for the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and one of the Chairmen of the Methodist Church Disciplinary Process.

Michael is a legal entrepreneur and has a wealth of experience in the legal and ATE sectors as well as a good working knowledge of litigation funding.

Michael qualified as a solicitor at the end of 1979 and has held a practising certificate for 40 years although only practising for a fraction of this time having set up, or invested in, various quasi legal and disruptive businesses.

In 1992 he jointly founded the Helphire Group as CEO which was the market leader in credit hire and repair, floating the company on the main list of the London Stock Exchange in 1997. Helphire’s insurance subsidiary, Angel Assistance, pioneered ATE and was the largest marketeer of ATE policies in the UK in its formative years. Helphire changed the way that insurers behaved towards policyholders following accidents, but not without some major legal battles including three Court of Appeal cases and two House of Lords cases over a two year period at the start of 2000.

Michael left Helphire (which has now merged with Northgate) in 2005 and jointly founded LAMP Group Limited, a specialist ATE underwriter which was very successful before the law relating to recovery of premiums changed in April 2013. He had the role of Chairman until 2018 when he took over as CEO and subsequently liquidated the Group.

Michael has been a non-executive director and shareholder in Epoq Group Limited since 2006, the market leader in the UK for online legal services.

Jan has vast experience building and scaling several Big Data / Legal Tech companies. He has led Business Development at Exponea, a data company that raised over £30m and was later acquired by Bloomreach, the leader in Commerce Experience. More recently he joined CourtQuant, a startup that employed AI to bring transparency into litigation through the employment of AI and predictive analytics, and was part of Deloitte’s Legal Tech accelerator program. Currently he has co-founded and heads product development at Trama, a LegalTech company that is building an AI-powered trademark registration service. 

Prior to this, Jan has worked in Venture Capital and Management Consulting.

Steve has worked for many years in Insolvency Investigation for various Licensed Insolvency Practitioners and leading accountancy firms.

His speciality has been identifying viable Officeholder Claims in Insolvency cases, and building the evidential base to bring these Claims before the Court.

His investigative skills and understanding of the issues arising in litigation will add experience and value to the Apex risk assessment process

In his spare time Steve is a devoted fan of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, and following the fluctuating fortunes of his beloved Preston North End football team in the EFL Championship.

Aishwarya has worked for many years in commercial litigation for various Law firms and leading asset management companies in London. She is an Indian qualified lawyer soon to be qualified in England and Wales.

Her speciality has been dealing with a variety of commercial litigation cases ranging from IP, Bankruptcy and Insolvency, Breach of Contract, Fraud, Professional negligence, Employment dispute, Shareholder disputes and many more. She is highly experienced in drafting pleadings, instructing barristers, attending court and even being a part of some high-profile mediations.

Her multi-jurisdictional perspective accompanied by being born and raised by a generation of barristers and Supreme Court Judges has deeply ingrained in her a pursuit for legal excellence and the mind to understand commercial viability for every case that she takes on.

Her legal research skills, legal analysis skills, advocacy skills and a deep understanding of the issues arising in litigation adds experience and value to the Apex risk assessment process

In her spare time, Aishwarya is a devoted wildlife safari enthusiast and loves playing basketball and football. She also has plans to start flight training on the weekends in 2024!