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Community Spotlight:  Stephen Kyriacou, Head of Litigation and Contingent Risk Solutions, Willis Towers Watson

By John Freund |

Stephen is a seasoned litigation and contingent risk insurance broker and former practicing complex commercial litigator who joined WTW in February 2025 as Head of Litigation and Contingent Risk Insurance.  In his role, Stephen evaluates litigation-related risks and structures bespoke litigation and contingent risk insurance policies for litigation finance, hedge fund, private equity, law firm, and corporate clients. 

Prior to joining WTW, Stephen was a Managing Director and Senior Lawyer in Aon’s Litigation Risk Group.  Stephen joined Aon in 2019, and was the first insurance industry professional dedicated solely to the litigation and contingent risk insurance market, leading the Litigation Risk Group’s origination and business development work, in-house legal diligence, efforts to advocate for coverage with underwriters, and negotiation and structuring of insurance policies.  During his time at Aon, Stephen was a three-time Risk and Insurance Magazine “Power Broker” (2022, 2023, 2024); spearheaded the development of judgment preservation insurance and insurance-backed judgment monetization as well as the synergy of litigation and contingent risk insurance with litigation finance; and was responsible for placing billions of dollars in total coverage limits – including the largest ever litigation and contingent risk insurance policy, and several policies that each provided over $500 million in coverage limits – and delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in premium to insurers.  Stephen additionally provided consulting and broking services on litigation-driven, insurance capital-based investment opportunities and sales of litigation claims, insurance claims, and subrogation rights as part of the Aon Special Opportunities Group.

Prior to joining the insurance industry, Stephen was a complex commercial litigator in the New York City office of Boies, Schiller & Flexner from 2011 to 2019.  While at BSF, Stephen amassed significant trial, appellate, and arbitration experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in the U.S. and abroad across a wide array of practice areas, including securities, antitrust, constitutional, insurance, first amendment, employment, government contracting, and criminal law, as well as in multidistrict and class action litigation.  Stephen’s clients included banks and other major financial institutions, private equity firms, technology companies, foreign sovereigns, professional sports teams, television networks, insurance companies, corporate executives, and other high-net-worth individuals.  

Stephen earned his J.D. from the New York University School of Law in 2010, and is a member of the New York State Bar.  He also clerked for the Honorable Tanya S. Chutkan in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Company Name and Description:  Willis Towers Watson

Company Website: https://www.wtwco.com/en-us

Headquarters:  Stephen is based in New York

Area of Focus:  Litigation and contingent risk insurance for litigation finance, hedge fund, private equity, law firm, and corporate clients

Member Quote:  “I have been working with litigation finance firms to insure their litigation-related investments since I first entered the insurance industry in 2019, and I view litigation finance and funder-backed plaintiff-side litigation as the most important growth areas for the litigation and contingent risk insurance market, as well as the areas where coverage can be most value additive for clients. 

I have also been bringing litigation finance firms into insurance transactions as financing counterparties since I first devised the concept of insurance-backed monetization for judgment preservation insurance clients back in 2020, which concept has since expanded to the point where litigation finance capital has become inexorably intertwined with all forms of plaintiff-side insurance coverage.  

As the market for this insurance pivots away from single-case risks and towards portfolio-based policies for litigation finance firms and the law firms that they fund, litigation finance clients can trust that WTW will be at the forefront of innovating new coverage structures and concepts to address their unique risk management needs and ambitious financial goals, will deliver best-in-class client service utilizing our incomparably strong and longstanding relationships with underwriters, and will be a vocal champion of litigation finance both within and outside of the insurance industry.”

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John Freund

John Freund

Commercial

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Announcements Commercial

Juris Capital Joins the International Legal Finance Association

By Harry Moran and 4 others |

The International Legal Finance Association (ILFA), the only global association of commercial legal finance companies, announced that Juris Capital has joined their association, adding to their rapidly growing membership base. 

Juris Capital is committed to delivering innovation solutions for financial stability for commercial litigation and arbitration along with investments in law firms through creative billing arrangements. Juris Capital’s team has over twenty years of experience investing in commercial litigation, all of their principals are licensed attorneys or certified public accountants. 

"Juris is excited to join ILFA to provide perspective from its over 15 years of operation," said David Desser, Juris Managing Director. 

"We believe the industry faces an inflection point, where the choice of policies will affect outcomes for businesses, consumers, and funders, and we will support ILFA's effort to secure sound policies in the United States and abroad." said Dane Lund, Juris Managing Director. 

Rupert Cunningham, Global Director of Growth and Membership Engagement at ILFA, commented on Juris Capital joining ILFA, saying “I’m delighted to welcome Juris Capital to ILFA’s growing ranks. Juris’ team bring with them a great deal of experience in litigation finance and we at ILFA look forward to working with David and Dane, whose expertise will be invaluable in our efforts to support and represent the legal finance sector globally.”

About the International Legal Finance Association  

The International Legal Finance Association (ILFA) represents the global commercial legal finance community, and its mission is to engage, educate and influence legislative, regulatory and judicial landscapes as the voice of the commercial legal finance industry. It is the only global association of commercial legal finance companies and is an independent, non-profit trade association promoting the highest standards of operation and service for the commercial legal finance sector. ILFA has local chapter representation around the world. 

For more information, visit www.ilfa.com and find us on LinkedIn and X @ILFA_Official.

Commercial People Moves

Trump’s Nominee for PTO Head Divides Opinion Over Past Ties to Fortress’ IP Fund

By Harry Moran and 4 others |

The involvement of litigation funders in intellectual property and patent disputes has never been without controversy, with the President’s choice of nominee to lead the country’s patent office only serving to reignite the debate over the role of third-party funding.

Reporting by Bloomberg Law covers the news that President Trump has nominated John A. Squires to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), with the article highlighting the key role Squires played in the founding of Fortress Investment Group’s Intellectual Property fund. Squires’ involvement with Fortress goes back a decade to his time as a partner at Perkins Coie, where he supported the company’s launch of a $4 billion fund dedicated to patent monetization.

The President’s decision to nominate Squires has provoked strong reactions, with Fortress’ billions of dollars poured into litigation funding and patent monetization being a divisive issue in the country’s patent industry.

Joe Matal, former acting director of the PTO, did not hold back in describing Fortress as “the antichrist of the patent world”, arguing that the investment giant “fund just the worst litigation against critical technology sectors and they won’t tell anyone who’s behind any of it.” Joshua Landau, senior counsel at the Computer & Communications Industry Association, offered a more measured response but noted that Squires’ past involvement with Fortress IP finance group is “somewhat concerning.”

However, proponents of litigation funding for intellectual property and patent disputes welcomed the news of Squires’ nomination. Bryce Barcelo, director of intellectual property at Certum Group, said that Squires “has the real opportunity to bring IP litigation funding to the forefront and out of the darkness a little bit and highlight that this can be a good thing.” Sarah Tsou, global head of intellectual property at Omni Bridgeway, expressed hope that Squires “might be more in favor of bringing accessible and efficient processes for acquiring patents and other IP for smaller companies and startups”, but cautioned that his appointment would not “turn a weak patent into a strong one.”

A spokesperson from Fortress highlighted Squires’ work with the firm’s IP team, saying that his “counsel reflected a deep understanding of the intellectual property space”, and underlined the company’s “utmost respect for his intellect, objectivity and expertise.”

Case Developments Commercial

Funding of Investor-State Disputes Attracts Criticism

By Harry Moran and 4 others |

Whilst litigation funders can provide the financial resources for individuals and companies to gain access to justice, the benefits that this service provides do not shield the industry from criticism; especially where lawsuits can be portrayed as putting business interests over social or environmental progress.

An in-depth article in The Guardian covers the growing trend of third-party funding supporting investor-state disputes focused on environmental regulations. In these cases funders are often backing companies who have seen their profits harmed by ‘green laws’, with a large potential upside for the funder due to the sizeable awards in play and the diminished risk of counterclaims being brought by governments.

Analysing the publicly available data from over 1,400 of these cases brought against nation states, The Guardian’s investigation details more than $120 billion in awards through claims in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) courts. As the article notes, this figure may be a severe underestimation of the true total, as only 34% of cases where a settlement or award was made had disclosed the financial value of the award.  Similarly, whilst the involvement of third-party funders is not always disclosed, The Guardian found at least 75 ISDS cases where such a party was involved, with more than half of those backed by investors in the UK, US or Canada.

This trend has been the target of some criticism from lawyers and arbitrators involved in these disputes, with Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah noting that it is often “developing countries” that are the targets of claims backed by investors who see the ISDS system as “big business.” Lisa Sachs, director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, also argued that the risk mitigation offered by having a funder cover the legal costs is effectively “removing a key deterrent to bringing weak or speculative claims.”

In response to its investigation, Burford Capital was the only funder who agreed to speak with The Guardian. The funder rebuffed the idea of supporting frivolous claims, pointing out that “legal finance provides a vetting function and weeds out meritless cases: we only get paid when our clients win their cases”. Burford’s CEO, Christopher Bogart, questioned whether these kinds of cases were unique, saying that he does not think “ISDS is any more high potential or lucrative than lots of other areas of litigation.”