Past Events
- Mitch Lathrop and Thomas Newman to Speak at Lorman's "Update on Insurance Issues" Seminar
- Duane Morris Partner Dominica Anderson to speak at 7th Annual National Litigating, Settling and Managing Asbestos Claims Conference
- Duane Morris Partner Max Stern to speak at Ethics Training Seminar
Related Publications
Related Matters Listing
Attorney Listing
Insurance and Financial Products
With allegations of corporate fraud and securities class action suits increasing annually and settlement values skyrocketing, companies are investing substantial dollars in insurance policies to protect their directors and officers, their assets and their shareholders. When claims are filed, however, insurance companies need assistance evaluating coverage, monitoring claims and reviewing policies to guard against future risk exposure. Leading insurers around the world rely on Duane Morris' Insurance and Financial Products Practice Group for this vital representation.
Our lawyers' breadth and depth of insurance experience enables Duane Morris to provide clients with a broader perspective of the insurance arena. To do this, we draw on our strong working relationships with major insurers, underwriters, brokers, defense counsel and plaintiffs' lawyers. The benefits of our inside view can help clients better understand the dynamics of a claim, as well as the business landscape. Utilizing this valuable input, clients can confidently make more informed, strategic decisions for their organizations.
Comprehensive Services
For more than 15 years, Duane Morris' Insurance and Financial Products lawyers have been trusted legal advisors to both domestic and international insurance clients in professional liability and related insurance coverage matters. From handling trial and appellate work before state and federal courts to monitoring claims for the insurers of major public companies and investment banks, clients turn to Duane Morris' Insurance and Financial Products team to help deliver solutions for their most significant insurance problems.
Our lawyers provide coverage and monitoring counsel in a broad range of professional liability areas, including directors and officers liability (D&O), investment bankers, broker-dealers, lawyers, accountants and insurance agents and brokers. Clients turn to Duane Morris for creative strategies such as manuscripted policy and endorsement wordings that help solve specific underwriting challenges and unique risks.
In addition, insurers rely on the firm for counsel on employment practices, intellectual property and fiduciary and pension trust liability matters. On a regular basis, we work closely with our underwriter clients in drafting, revising and reviewing policy forms and endorsements, and analyzing potential exposures in these and other areas.
Duane Morris' insurance and financial products experience extends beyond domestic insurers to include the London and Bermuda markets. We are one of the few firms that have the capabilities to represent clients in all three marketplaces. Clients benefit from Duane Morris' three-pronged view of the entire insurance and financial products industry and the issues that drive it.
Responsive Claims Service
We are proud of our responsive claims service - it is one of the areas that distinguishes Duane Morris' Insurance and Financial Products Practice Group. We have built our practice around three key components:
- Insurance Coverage and Litigation Management. We understand the coverage issues central to D&O policies and apply the most effective claims strategies to leverage those issues with each claim. When necessary, we work with Duane Morris' Insurance Coverage Practice Group to litigate or arbitrate those disputes that cannot be resolved through negotiation.
- Substantive, Broad-Spectrum Legal Experience. During the 1990s, the coverage terms for D&O expanded substantially, leaving claims to be negotiated solely on the facts of the claim. Clients appreciate the substantial liability and legal analysis that we provide to support our coverage and litigation management recommendations.
- Top Litigation Management Tools. Duane Morris' nonlegal service affiliates, Wescott Global Claims Administration and Wescott Analytics, provide a broad range of financial services, such as modeling, forensic accounting, and class action claims settlement administration. With these litigation management tools, we can quickly and accurately analyze the financial components of a D&O or E&O claim.
We Mean Business with Claims
We believe in creating and facilitating beneficial business relationships, not adversarial ones. When there is a claim, our lawyers recognize that the insureds are our client's clients. By communicating early on, we can help set the insureds' expectations to make sure that they are informed of the insurer's position. This open line of communication between insured and insurance company helps to create a more positive relationship. No matter the outcome, we assist our clients in determining when a relationship with an insured is no longer in the client's best interests.
Our lawyers also recommend that our clients take coverage positions only where the facts and law support it - not just to posture. This way, we are prepared at any time to support our stated position with fully researched facts and legal precedent. Just as important, it enhances our client's credibility and position with insureds and their counsel. Because we are open to negotiation and compromise where appropriate, brokers and defense counsel understand that if we take a firm position, we mean it.
As a result, this claims philosophy helps our clients achieve favorable claims allocations - even when the policy terms specifically address allocation, either through entity coverage or a predetermined allocation percentage.
A Seamless, Cross-Practice Approach
Having offices in the country's key business centers - New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego, Boston, Atlanta and Miami - places our lawyers in close proximity to our clients. Clients benefit from our team of attorneys who work seamlessly together to deliver exceptional legal advice. Every lawyer in Duane Morris' Insurance and Financial Products Practice Group offers clients broad experience representing domestic and international insurance clients in professional liability and related insurance coverage matters. Understanding the importance of communications, we continually keep clients apprised of current and future issues that can impact their business. Because the firm's litigation practice exists in all our offices, we can offer insights on local judges and opposing counsel - information that is not as readily available without a local presence.
Duane Morris' Insurance and Financial Products group also works closely with the firm's other practice groups, such as business reorganization and financial restructuring, intellectual property, securities law and employment law. This hands-on, cross-practice approach allows our clients to take full advantage of a "one-stop shop" - benefiting from Duane Morris' collective experience while reducing the added time and expense of engaging multiple law firms.
Additionally, our memberships in international networks such as Multilaw and TerraLex offer clients quick responses to their questions, as well as access to a network of top legal counsel for more in-depth matters. By employing these resources, Duane Morris helps clients achieve their objectives, securing value by negotiating the resolution of disputes as efficiently as possible.
Our Lawyers Lead the Industry
Duane Morris' Insurance and Financial Products lawyers regularly publish articles on timely issues of interest to liability insurers. Our lawyers are also very visible in the professional liability field, having been early members of the Professional Liability Underwriters Society (PLUS) shortly after the organization's inception in 1986.
As the insurance industry continues to evolve, Duane Morris' Insurance and Financial Products practice expands and responds to those changes as well. Not only do we understand the complexities of professional liability and related insurance coverage matters, but we also make it a point to understand the business objectives of our clients. In this way we provide the creative, cost-effective solutions that place Duane Morris' Insurance and Financial Products practice in the forefront of the industry.
For more information, please contact any of the practice members referenced in the Attorney Listing.