Litigation Funding 2025

Stewart Ackerly is a Director at Statera Capital, a leading U.S.-based commercial litigation finance firm. He oversees Statera’s origination efforts and public policy initiatives. Before joining Statera, Stewart was a trial lawyer at Williams & Connolly LLP, where he represented Fortune 50 companies, sovereign nations, and other clients in complex commercial litigation and arbitration. Before joining Williams & Connolly, Stewart clerked for Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Stewart previously served as Chief of Staff at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the U.S. Government’s $60 billion development bank. Prior to that role, Stewart served as Deputy Chief of Staff at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, where he helped negotiate the USMCA. Stewart received his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Virginia. He and his family live in Richmond, Virginia.

Ryan M. Billings is president of the State Bar of Wisconsin for the 2025 fiscal year. He obtained a J.D. from Harvard Law School (2004), and a B.A. from Princeton University (2001), where he majored in Philosophy. He is a Shareholder and Chair of Litigation at Kohner, Mann & Kailas, S.C., in Milwaukee. After beginning his career with Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York, Ryan returned home in 2011 and has been enjoying the collegiality of the Wisconsin bar ever since. Ryan practices complex commercial litigation across a broad spectrum of subject matters, with a particular focus on fiduciary duty, non-compete agreements, fair dealership practices, and trade secret law.

He has lectured and written extensively on emerging discovery law and practices, including for the Wisconsin Lawyer and the Wisconsin Law Journal, and he has served for many years as the co-editor of the Electronic Discovery Law chapter of Wisconsin Discovery Law and Practice. Given his international practice and ties to New York, Ryan has substantial experience in the litigation finance space and frequently presents CLE programs exploring the nature and practical and ethical concerns surrounding litigation funding.

Nick Sage focuses on US origination, alongside internal due diligence and case analyses. He oversees the due diligence process on proposed cases for funding, the negotiation of funding arrangements, and the subsequent monitoring of investments. He is recognized by Lawdragon and named among the 2023 Lawdragon 100 Global Leaders in Litigation Finance.

Nick previously served as a senior litigation associate with Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, where he gained significant experience across a wide range of litigations and arbitrations and represented a variety of financial institutions, media companies, technology companies, utility companies, and law firms in high-stakes disputes.

Nick graduated cum laude from Tufts University in 2005 with a B.A. in international relations and political science and graduated cum laude from New York University School of Law in 2013. Prior to law school, Nick worked at Global Kids, Inc., a non-profit organization that works with youth in underserved communities.