Insurance and reinsurance companies are at the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis. And regular claims will not go away simply because the sector has to address the crisis. Now more than ever, insurance and reinsurance clients require skilled disputes lawyers who really know their industry. This is where our firm stands out.
Insurance and Reinsurance Disputes, Generally. Most leading law firms have downsized their insurance disputes practices over the last fifteen years. Not us.
Before we launched this firm in 2009, three of our founding partners led the highly ranked US insurance and reinsurance practice at global law firm, Clifford Chance. Over the past 10 years, we have made that premier practice a core pillar of our growth and success at Chaffetz Lindsey. We now have eleven senior lawyers (seven partners and four counsel/senior attorneys) who all focus on insurance and reinsurance disputes. No other top firm has invested more in this area. This is something the industry has noticed: We have more Chambers-ranked New York insurance partners than any other US firm of any size.
Our clients generally request our help in large (high severity, low frequency) property and casualty or financial claims. We regularly handle claims involving hundreds of millions of dollars in exposure, though we can also handle smaller claims that are important to our clients. Our matters have arisen from losses across all lines of business including P&C (including business interruption), life and health, E&O, surety, finite risk, workers’ comp, and political risk and trade credit.
We have extensive experience helping clients through disputes that arise out of crises, such as the September 11 attack, Hurricane Harvey, Enron, Madoff, Unicover, and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis.
Insurance Arbitrations. In addition to being a market leader in insurance and reinsurance, we also are one of the world’s recognized leaders in arbitration. We handle complex domestic and international arbitrations in insurance and reinsurance matters, and across other sectors including construction, energy, finance and investments, and post-M&A disputes. We have deep knowledge of the arbitration process, practitioners, and arbitrator pools. We are active in numerous arbitral organizations around the world, including ARIAS, where partner Steve Schwartz serves on the Board of Directors. No firm is better suited to handle arbitrations involving the Bermuda Form, Rep and Warranty Insurance, reinsurance, or other insurance contracts.
Bankruptcy and Insurance. Insurers often have to deal with counterparties (insureds or counterparties on general commercial contracts) in financial stress. We have top-tier bankruptcy capabilities to support our insurance clients in these situations. We also have had extensive experience acting against and sometimes for the liquidators of insolvent insurers.
