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.

Steven Friel

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Steven Friel

Will Farrell

Federated Hermes
Assistant Manager, EOS
London

Will co-leads the climate change theme at EOS, the stewardship arm of Federated Hermes Limited, where his coverage includes companies in Europe and Australia, primarily financial services, energy, chemicals, and materials. Prior to joining EOS, Will worked in the energy and infrastructure investment banking team at Macquarie Capital, where he specialised in renewable energy. Before that, Will held a number of roles across the UK climate policy space, including as a parliamentary researcher for Rt. Hon. Chris Skidmore MP on climate and energy issues, and as a climate and economic policy analyst at a diplomatic institute. He was appointed as a voluntary adviser to Rt. Hon. Alok Sharma MP, President of COP26, on preparations for COP26 after co-founding a Westminster climate policy group in 2019, which engaged MPs and Members of the House of Lords to advocate for more ambition on climate action in public policy. Will has a Bachelor’s degree (1st Class Honours) in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.