Sean Thompson

Sean is Managing Director—IP Investments and General Counsel at Parabellum. Since 2018, he has led the firm’s intellectual property investment practice, expanding its mandate beyond claim funding into direct patent acquisitions, monetization facilities, and secondary transactions. He has originated each of the firm’s IP-backed investments across three successive fund vintages and leads their underwriting, structuring, and execution. He serves on Parabellum’s Investment Committee.

His work includes law firm and claimant portfolio funding; patent acquisition, monetization, and patent-backed credit facilities; secondary and participation purchases; and direct acquisitions of patent portfolios, including the firm’s first outright purchase of a patent portfolio. He also built the underwriting, pricing, and portfolio reporting framework that underpins the strategy.

As General Counsel, Sean leads Parabellum’s legal function, overseeing transaction documentation across its investment platform, corporate and fund governance, and the firm’s disputes. He advises senior leadership on legal and regulatory developments affecting Parabellum and the litigation finance industry.

Chambers ranks Sean in Band 1 for U.S. intellectual property litigation funding. He is listed in the IAM Strategy 300 and has been recognized by Lawdragon as one of 100 global leaders in legal finance.

Having represented both patent owners and accused infringers, Sean brings a litigator’s perspective to investment judgment and legal risk. Before joining Parabellum, he was senior litigation counsel at a leading patent licensing firm. Earlier, at WilmerHale, he represented technology and pharmaceutical companies in patent disputes involving semiconductors, unmanned aerial vehicles, and pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. He began his career at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.

Sean earned his joint J.D./LL.M. from Cornell Law School, where he was an editor of the Cornell Law Review. He received his B.A. from Boston College and his M.S. from the London School of Economics.