Editorial: Insurance and Reinsurance in Texas

01 May 2007

Regulatory and legislative  experts can be found alongside lawyers who exclusively represent corporate policyholders,  concentrate on insurance dispute resolution or act for industry clients on a variety of  matters. Where none of them differ, however,  is the high regard in which they are held by  clients and competitors alike.

Thompson Coe was founded in 1951 and is known for its strong insurance practice. With four partners on the following pages it has a greater presence in the chapter than any other firm. Partner Brian Martin is chair-elect of the State Bar of Texas insurance section and was roundly recommended as “one of the best coverage lawyers in Houston”. Praised as a “quite excellent attorney” by more than one source, Martin has handled matters such as D&O liability, products coverage, bad faith, general liability, environmental, toxic tort, and construction related matters on behalf of insurance industry clients. roger higgins chaired the firm’s insurance litigation and coverage group from 1989 to 2004 and comes recommended as “absolutely top class”, particularly for his regulatory advice. Richard Geiger is of counsel to the firm and was lauded as a “wonderful insurance company lawyer”. Geiger’s current practice sees him representing insurers and trade associations before the legislature, the commissioner of insurance, and the Texas Department of Insurance. Jay Thompson completes the firm’s quartet in the chapter and also comes highly recommended for his legislative advice, with one high-profile source noting, “if you want a bill passed on an industry issue you go to him.” Like Geiger, Thompson represents insurance company clients as well as trade associations in legislative, regulatory and litigation matters. He has served as counsel for the Texas Association of Life & Health Insurers on lawmaking issues affecting life and health insurance during the current legislative process. He also counselled the Association of Fire & Casualty Companies of Texas on legislative issues impacting upon P&C lines including auto, homeowners, workers’ compensation, medical malpractice and commercial casualty. Thompson Coe is one of the most respected firms in the state for insurance advice. 

Quilling Selander Cummiskey & Lownds also boasts an excellent reputation for insurance litigation as well as policy drafting, regulatory advice, coverage opinions and advice on claims-handling procedures. Lance Lewis was consistently endorsed by some of the industry’s leading lights and is a renowned trial lawyer. Greg Winslett chairs the firm’s professional liability and insurance groups and is another highly rated litigator. While the majority of his time has been devoted to complex insurance defence work, he has also represented plaintiff-insurers in both commercial and insurance litigation. Hamp Moody is one of Texas’s most experienced practitioners and is rated by peers as “one of the very best”. Moody’s practice is wide ranging and among other matters he has represented both foreign and domestic insurance companies in first- and third-party coverage and extra-contractual ‘bad faith’ litigation. Moody’s mediation practice was also brought to our attention. 

Martin Disiere Jefferson & Wisdom LLP is an insurance litigation boutique with offices in Houston, Austin and Dallas. Christopher Martin heads the firm’s practice and comes recommended for both personal lines and commercial policy work. Praised as “the most talented first-party lawyer I have ever met in the country,” his handling of the mould coverage case Fiess v State Farm Lloyds (where the Texas Supreme Court held that mould claims are not covered under Texas Homeowners’ Form B policy) was noted. Martin is also a prolific author and speaker. Fellow founding partner David Disiere emerges from our research with nothing but praise and boasts a strong insurance coverage and bad faith litigation practice. Disiere has strong industry credentials having spent 13 years inhouse at State Farm, five as assistant counsel in the Corporate Law Department. Vinson & Elkins LLP’s long list of blue-chip clients ensures a strong insurance coverage practice that deals primarily with corporate insureds on first-party property policies, business interruption and D&O matters. David Brown heads the firm’s insurance coverage group and represents companies in the energy, health care and transportation industries. Brown was variously described as “the finest lawyer I know”, “incredibly bright”, and is said to have a “good combination of talent and charm”. Kenneth Scott Statham is the other half of a V&E duo described as “excellent policyholder attorneys”. The “young and bright” Statham combines strong insurance and product liability practices. Much of the firm’s insurance work derives from natural catastrophes and Statham is advising policyholders in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas on property damage and business interruption claims related to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Tollefson Bradley Ball & Mitchell LLP is another firm with more than one partner on the following pages. The “fantastic” John Tollefson is “as good as anybody”, according to sources. Boasting an “encyclopedic knowledge”, he has a strong insurance coverage practice in the areas of property, casualty and professional liability. Much of the firm’s work is state-based and representative clients include St Paul/Travelers Group, United National Insurance and Colony Insurance. Beth Bradley is “someone whom people coalesce around” and is another individual recommended for insurance coverage work. Although much of her practice is on behalf of insurance companies she has also developed a reputation for work on the policyholder side. 

A number of firms appearing on the following pages do so thanks to the showing of high-profile individuals. One example is Cooper & Scully PC, which fields “superstar” Brent Cooper – the most highly nominated lawyer in the chapter. Cooper was described to researchers as “hard-nosed and good” and he practises in the fields of product liability, insurance defence and bad faith. A “very gifted” lawyer, Cooper “has been responsible for a couple of landmark cases in Texas”. Michael Huddleston of Shannon Gracey Ratliff & Miller LLP represents both policyholders and insurers and is said to be “as good as they come”. Huddleston is a former chair of the insurance section of the State Bar of Texas, and one respondent to our survey remarked, “some think he’s the best in the state at the moment.” David Schubert of Schubert Evans is “held in high regard” by clients and competitors alike. With a background representing both policyholders and insurance companies he was recommended to researchers on multiple occasions. International firm Cozen O’Connor features thanks to the inclusion of Gene Creely. A “very talented lawyer”, he comes recommended for the defence of national and international insurance companies. Robert Allen is based in the Dallas offices of Baker & McKenzie LLP and is an “excellent coverage lawyer who has worked on extraordinarily large cases”, according to a source. Allen emerges as one of the most prominent individuals in the state and is well regarded for “big insurance fights”. 

Few are more respected on the policyholder side than Ernest Martin of Haynes and Boone LLP. A “prominent and able trial lawyer”, Martin is the person you’d want on your side “if you were a Fortune 500 corporation looking to sue your insurance company”. Martin is particularly recommended for D&O liability coverage claims but also has a strong practice in the environmental, securities, property damage, business interruption, general liability and bad faith arenas. James Cooper co-chairs the insurance coverage group at Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP and is another of Texas’s leading policyholder lawyers. “As good as they come”, he represents companies in the oil and gas, and construction industries. Representative clients include Oil States Industries, Tesco Corporation, Lennar Corporation and Pilgrim’s Pride, to name but a few. James Cornell of Cornell & Pardue is another policyholder lawyer of repute. Cornell was recommended to researchers as a prolific author; he serves as editor-in-chief of the Annotated Texas Insurance Code, as well as co-authoring Cornell and Martin’s Texas Insurance Law Digest with Christopher Martin. Representing both large and small corporate policyholders, Cornell has worked on cases featuring business interruption, D&O liability, general liability, commercial property and homeowners, among others. Litigation specialists Nickens Keeton Lawless Farrell & Flack LLP feature thanks to the inclusion of “top-flight” Mark Lawless. Lawless is another leading policyholder lawyer and is recommended for his expertise on environmental and asbestos claims. Over the past 10 years the firm has helped recover more than $300 million on behalf of corporate policyholders denied coverage by carriers. The “spectacularly talented” Lee Shidlofsky recently left Nickens Keeton to set up his own practice – Visser Shidlofsky LLP. “Young and talented”, Shidlofsky specialises in the representation and counselling of corporate policyholders and boasts a particular expertise for construction defect work. Patrick Wielinski of Cokinos Bosien & Young PC has a similar speciality within the construction industry and “writes an excellent book on construction defects” according to respondents – Insurance for Defective Construction: Beyond Broad Form Property Damage Coverage. Vincent Morgan focuses on the policyholder side at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and is “young and exceptionally good” and someone who “will be one of the very best in a few years”. Recent highlights include the representation of Chevron in the property insurance case, National Union Fire Insurance Company et al v Anglo-Suisse Offshore Partners LLC, which arose out of Hurricane Ivan’s multimillion-dollar damage to offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The firm also represented the Houston Astros baseball team regarding the denial of an insurance claim arising out of the disability of first baseman Jeff Bagwell. Both resulted in substantial recoveries for the client. 

Corpus Christi’s William Chriss is seen by competitors as a “formidable opponent”. Practising at his own firm, he comes highly recommended for homeowner’s and personal lines work. Thomas Bond leads the insurance practice group at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and before joining the firm served as Texas’s commissioner of insurance from 1982 to 1985. Bond is recognised as one of the leading insurance regulatory lawyers in the state and his clients include holding companies, life insurers, property and liability companies, trade associations, reinsurers, title underwriters and agencies, large insureds and the insurance departments of other states. Civil litigation firm Quinn Hayes & Quinn has an excellent reputation for insurance work and in the figure of Michael Quinn boasts one of Texas’s leading names. Quinn is a past chair of the insurance section of the state bar and boasts a broad practice. Acclaimed as the “premium insurance intellectual in the state”, his work as an expert witness was also noted. Stephen Pate at Fulbright & Jaworski LLP is another of the area’s high-flyers, applauded as “very fine” and “top of anyone’s list” for first-party insurance litigation. Aside from mould-related work, Pate has recently been heavily involved in the losses relating to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita where he has been representing carriers in cases involving business interruption at hotels, damage to apartment complexes, as well as large homeowners who have experienced loss. Like Chriss, Russell McMains practises at his own firm in Corpus Christi and he rounds off our breakdown of the state’s leading insurance lawyers. Describing him as an “incredible talent” one respondent remarked, “if there’s a major case south of Austin then he’s in it.”

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