Ralph J. Sutton

Founder & CEO, Validity

Ralph Sutton is an industry pioneer whose strategic and operational experience make him among the most trusted funding professionals in the industry. He co-founded Validity in 2018 with the express goal of providing fair, sustainable, and innovative funding to clients in the U.S.  

Ralph’s exceptional wealth of experience includes an 18-year career as a trial attorney, and the co-founding of Credit Suisse’s Litigation Risk Strategies Group, one of the first dispute funding entities in the U.S. Ralph then launched Bentham U.S. (now called Omni Bridgeway), running its operations from 2011-17 as chief investment officer, during which time Bentham expanded to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston from its New York base.  

Ralph is a champion of increased access to civil justice, and has lectured on funding and its role in reducing legal inequality at Harvard, Stanford, and other premier law schools. In 2016, he helped establish a new Civil Justice Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. 

Ralph graduated from Columbia University and received his J.D. from the New York University School of Law. He served as a law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge G. Thomas Eisele for two years.