Insurance Law

A novel approach – AIG on why expertise in risk is key to winning Asia panel roles

By Elizabeth Broomhall in Hong Kong | September 5, 2013

When he's not busy writing novels, Peter Gregoire is trying to come up with new ways to boost efficiency within AIG's Hong Kong legal team. As GC for the insurance giant there, the author of Article 109 – a legal thriller which reached number one on Dymocks' bestseller list earlier this year – manages AIG's legal affairs in Hong Kong and Macau, and makes suggestions for change to Pamela Yeo, AIG's regional GC based in Singapore.

1 minute read

General counsel work/life balance Q&A - Aviva's Monica Risam

By Legal Week | September 5, 2013

Monica Risam has been general counsel of Aviva Group since July last year, before which she was GC of Aviva Europe. She joined the insurer in 2011 from GE Capital's Working Capital Solutions division, where she managed the global legal and compliance team. She is also a former associate at Weil Gotshal & Manges and Dewey Ballantine.

1 minute read

DLA Piper's Hong Kong insurance head to leave private practice

By Elizabeth Broomhall in Hong Kong | September 4, 2013

The head of DLA Piper's insurance practice in Hong Kong is leaving the firm to pursue opportunities in legal consulting. Will Harrison, who joined DLA in 2007 as a senior associate from Clifford Chance in Hong Kong, is highly rated for contentious insurance work in the region.

1 minute read

Kennedys set to grow to £160m as firm seals Simpson & Marwick merger

By Anna Reynolds | August 30, 2013

Kennedys is to merge with Scottish law firm Simpson & Marwick later this year after partners at both firms voted in favour of the tie-up. The combined firm will be known as Kennedys, although Simpson & Marwick will be known as Kennedys Simpson & Marwick in Scotland for a period after the merger goes live on 1 November. The news follows the firm's recent union with specialist aviation and aerospace law firm, Gates and Partners, in June.

1 minute read

Aviva appoints eight firms to core panel as CC misses out in review

By Alex Newman | August 30, 2013

Aviva has appointed eight principal firms to its UK and group legal panel, with Clifford Chance (CC) missing out on a place after a review of the insurance giant's core legal panel. Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy (A&O), Latham & Watkins, Ashurst, DLA Piper, Linklaters, Pinsent Masons and Addleshaw Goddard have won spots on the new line-up, following a competitive tender process which began in April.

1 minute read

Linklaters and HSF lead on £1.3bn credit card mis-selling compensation deal

By Alex Newman | August 23, 2013

Linklaters and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) have taken the lead legal roles on an agreement between the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Card Protection Plan (CPP) and 13 high street banks which could see £1.3bn returned to customers who were mis-sold insurance products. Seven million customers, who between them bought and renewed around 23 million policies covering card and identity protection, may now be entitled to compensation, after the parties settled on a 'redress bill'.

1 minute read

Lawrence Graham adds partner duo with Davenport Lyons and Mayer Brown hires

By Legal Week | August 13, 2013

Lawrence Graham (LG) has added two partners in London with hires from Davenport Lyons and Mayer Brown. Real estate finance partner Judith Gershon has joined LG after four years at Davenport. She joined the West End firm in July 2009 from Eversheds, where she led the Birmingham real estate finance team.

1 minute read

Damage control – how law firms can reduce their risk of costly negligence claims

By Legal Week | August 1, 2013

Claims against solicitors can be expensive, not just in terms of damages and costs, but also in terms of reputation risks, the amount of time likely to be spent dealing with the claim and a resultant increase in professional indemnity insurance (PII) premiums. A good place to start for any firm concerned about its risk profile and wishing to improve its risk management is to identify the top 10 risks faced by the firm and then consider the steps necessary to minimise those risks. For those with serious concerns, there are specialist risk management firms that can audit firms and prepare risk reports. A firm's risk profile will vary depending on its size and personnel, and the type of work. Property work is the most common source of claims, and commercial and financial work can give rise to the most costly claims; but all areas carry risk.

1 minute read

At a premium – unstable law firms are ringing alarm bells for legal insurers

By Legal Week | August 1, 2013

When the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) warned recently that more than 30 of the UK's leading 200 law firms were in "serious financial difficulty", it set alarm bells ringing among legal industry insurers. Their sense of anxiety will have only deepened last month when Samantha Barrass, the SRA executive director, gave a speech adding that the regulator was receiving "more and more" reports of firms in financial difficulty, and that it was working with 51 firms where the likelihood of a costly intervention was "very high".

1 minute read

Stobarts wins ABS licence to launch legal arm alongside barrister service

By Gerard Starkey | July 17, 2013

Logistics company Stobart Group is to launch a law firm to complement its burgeoning barrister service after gaining an alternative business licence (ABS) from the Solicitors Regulation Authority. One Legal, which was set up by Stobart Group's legal director and founder of Stobart Barristers Trevor Howarth, will primarily provide a litigation service to insurance claims while also offering a wider service. Howarth was tight-lipped on detailed plans for the new venture, only to say an announcement would be made in the next few weeks.

1 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

Special Section: 2022 Insurance Law

By The Legal Intelligencer | August 2, 2022

In The Legal's Insurance Law supplement, read about insuring intangible rights, increased scrutiny of auto policy exclusions, and more.

2 minute read

Daily Report Online

Plaintiffs' Lawyer Looks to Insurance Policies to Secure $345M in Child Sex Abuse Damages

By Katheryn Hayes Tucker | July 28, 2022

"We try to handle the kind of cases that will make a difference to a lot of people—not just our clients," said Darren Penn of Penn Law.

4 minute read

Law.com

Cyber Insurance Experiencing Future Shock

By Barry M. Miller and Elisabeth Gentile | July 28, 2022

Insurers who write cyber liability policies are well-equipped to manage cyber claims, but what about carriers and adjusters who face such claims under more traditional policies — also known as "Silent Cyber?" This article aims to help non-cyber risk adjusters who may have to oversee such a claim.

11 minute read

New Jersey Law Journal

Allstate Unsuccessful in Claim for Return of $1.1M in Legal Fees From Disbarred Attorney

By Colleen Murphy | July 27, 2022

The New Jersey Appellate Division upheld a grant of summary judgment in favor of former attorney Harris Legome and his firm after Allstate alleged extensive misrepresentation in violation of the New Jersey Fraud Prevention Act and sought return of $1.1 million in legal fees.

4 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

Growing Trend: Increased Scrutiny of Auto Policy Exclusions

By James C. Haggerty, Jeffrey Stanton and Dennis Coyne | July 27, 2022

Exclusions in auto policies in Pennsylvania have recently undergone increased scrutiny by the Courts. At the forefront of this re-evaluation is the household exclusion. That exclusion bars recovery of uninsured (UM) and underinsured (UIM) motorist benefits where the claimant sustained injury while operating a household vehicle insured on other policy, typically the personal auto/motorcycle situation.

3 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

Personal Injury Insurance Coverage: Insuring Intangible Rights

By Timothy P. Law | July 27, 2022

This article discusses the broad scope of Coverage B, particularly for violations of intangible rights and intentional torts, which many businesses (and their attorneys) incorrectly assume are uncovered.

8 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

Policy Conditions, Requirements That Need to Be Met for the Coverage to Be Valid

By Kenneth E. Sharperson and Bradley A. (Brad) Baldwin | July 27, 2022

This article briefly discusses these policy conditions, which may not be well known to insureds, so that a coverage assessment is limited to the merits of a claim and not a failure to satisfy policy conditions.

9 minute read

New Jersey Law Journal

Motorist Knocked Unconscious by Flying Rock on I-80 Reaches $750,000 Settlement

By Colleen Murphy | July 27, 2022

An uninsured motorist claim brought in Morris County yielded a $750,000 settlement on June 13 for a man injured when a rock crashed through his windshield…

4 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

Courts Find Direct Repair Claims Not So Direct

By Daniel J. Twilla and Kathleen P. Dapper | July 26, 2022

Pennsylvania bad-faith lawyers are all too familiar with the tortured history and anticlimactic outcome of the Berg v. Nationwide case. In part because of the issues before the court and in part because the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did not reach a majority disposition, Pennsylvania's highest court did not issue a binding, precedential decision in Berg—leaving for another day the question of an insurance company's duties when repairing a vehicle damaged in an accident.

6 minute read

The Legal Intelligencer

Practice Tips for Litigating Third-Party Bad Faith Insurance Claims

By Mark W. Tanner and Peter M. Newman | July 26, 2022

Third-party bad faith claims typically arise from a common fact pattern: an insured defendant, hit with an excess verdict because his insurer refused to make a reasonable settlement offer, assigns to the plaintiff the right to bring a bad faith claim against the insurer.

9 minute read