Aviva  Will
  • New York

Aviva Will

Co-Chief Operating Officer

Aviva Will is Co-Chief Operating Officer with overall responsibility for Burford’s global marketing, origination and underwriting activities, and a member of Burford's Management and Commitments Committees. In her role at Burford, Ms. Will has overseen the continuing innovation of its offerings to law firms and companies and has been instrumental in building the industry’s most respected legal finance team and process.

At Burford, Ms. Will developed and launched The Equity Project, a groundbreaking initiative designed to help increase diversity in law by providing an economic incentive for change through a $100 million pool of capital earmarked for financing commercial litigation matters led by women and racially diverse lawyers who have been historically underrepresented in the field. As part of The Equity Project, Ms. Will recruited over 25 lawyers from the world’s leading law firms and corporations to be Champions in promoting the availability of this capital to incentivize change.

Prior to joining Burford in 2010, Ms. Will was a senior litigation manager and Assistant General Counsel at Time Warner Inc., where she managed a portfolio of significant antitrust, intellectual property and complex commercial litigation. She was also Time Warner's chief antitrust and regulatory counsel, advising senior management on antitrust risk and overseeing all antitrust litigation, government antitrust investigations and merger clearances worldwide. Ms. Will also served as the Assistant Secretary for the company, managing corporate compliance and governance for the company and Board. Prior to joining Time Warner, Ms. Will was a senior litigator at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

Ms. Will graduated cum laude from Fordham University School of Law, where she was the Writing & Research Editor of the Fordham Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. She earned an undergraduate degree from Columbia University. She was a law clerk to the Honorable Stewart G. Pollock on the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Recognition

“Aviva Will has built a first-rate team of lawyers that rivals a top boutique law firm. Clients benefit from the efficient, thorough, and transparent litigation finance process that Aviva has developed.” Derek Ho,
Partner | Kellogg Hansen
“Aviva Will, a former high-ranking in-house counsel, is the consummate professional with a deep understanding of the internal needs and pressures of corporate legal departments. She has both the ingenuity and authority to make quick financing decisions to address our client’s problems.” Partner,
Leading law firm
Global 100 Leaders in Legal Finance, Lawdragon 2020-2023
Band 1-US Litigation Funding, Chambers and Partners 2022-2023
100 Leading Legal Consultants and Strategists, Lawdragon 2021
Band 2-US Litigation Funding, Chambers and Partners 2021
Trailblazer New York Law Journal 2019
"[Aviva] is very client-focused, involved in the details and knows all the issues. A great operation person-which is what you need in someone running cases." Chambers and Partners