Steven is a leader in the sphere of collective redress, and one of the most well-established litigation finance professionals in the international market. He is particularly expert in helping large groups of shareholders, bondholders and other stakeholders to collaborate in the face of catastrophic breakdowns in corporate governance at publicly listed companies.

He has been the driving force behind Woodsford’s evolution from a traditional litigation funder into a leading global collective redress business in the UK, Australia, continental Europe, Japan and Canada. 

With more than a decade in the industry, Steven has consistently been recognised by Chambers & Partners, Lexology Index, Lawdragon and Legal 500 as a leading figure in litigation finance. Before joining Woodsford, he was a partner at the London offices of Brown Rudnick and DAC Beachcroft, and previously practised at Debevoise & Plimpton in London and New York.

Steven is the author of The Law and Business of Litigation Finance (now on its Second Edition), the leading treatise on the international development of the law and practice of high value litigation and arbitration funding. He is also a member of the ICGN (International Corporate Governance Network) Global Policy Committee.

Kalina Lazarova is Corporate Governance and Voting Lead at Standard Life plc. Kalina’s focus is to evolve the company’s work on proxy voting models, as well as its corporate governance strategy. Prior to joining Standard Life plc, Kalina spent over 7 years at BMO Global Asset Management as Head of Governance, Responsible Investment, where she led on development and implementation of global corporate governance policies, focussed on ESG engagement, and worked on meeting commitments under the UNPRI and UK Stewardship Code. Kalina also spent time at Fidelity Investments International and Governance for Owners LLP as a senior governance manager.

Landon Shea is Research Lead, Investment Stewardship at AllianceBernstein, where he is responsible for voting shareholder meetings across AB’s $330 billion active equities platform, overseeing proxy-related regulatory reporting, and authoring corporate governance research. Shea covers the Healthcare and Technology sectors for AB’s Responsible Investing team, engaging issuers on material ESG topics in partnership with active investment teams. Prior to joining AB, he worked as an Undergraduate Fellow at the Berkeley Law School Public Law & Policy Center and as a Compliance Intern at VMware. Shea holds a BA in Political Science from UC Berkeley.

Jen is the CEO of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN).

Led by investors with AUM of over $US 100 trillion, ICGN aims to strengthen markets and create long term value through effective corporate governance policy and practice. Jen represents ICGN on the Japanese Financial Services Agency’s Council of Experts and on the IFIAR stakeholder working group and the PCAOB IAG.

Jen joined ICGN from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, where she was EMEA Head of Stewardship, driving engagement, proxy voting and industry collaboration efforts. In that role, Jen was a member of the Investment Association Company Reporting and Auditing Group and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Investor Advisory Committee. In 2022 Jen was also a member of the US Council of Institutional Investors Corporate Governance Advisory Council.

Previously, Jen was Deputy Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs at the UK Financial Reporting Council, responsible for coordinating outreach with the global investment community, listed company leadership teams and board members across all areas of the regulator’s scope. Jen led policy outreach on ESG, audit and reporting matters including the creation of the 2020 UK Stewardship Code and the 2018 UK Corporate Governance Code.

Jen started her career at PwC.

Jen holds a BA in Business, Accounting and Finance from the University of Newcastle and a Masters in Sustainability Leadership from the University of Cambridge.