Editorial: Insurance and Reinsurance in Illinois

01 October 2006

Insurers played a vital part in rebuilding the city following the fire of 1871 and the present skyline attests to Chicago’s strong links to the industry. Iconic landmarks, such as the Insurance Exchange Building at 175 West Jackson, were erected by insurers while the Prudential Building at 130 East Randolph and the Aon Center (originally named the Standard Oil Building) bear their names. Some of the world’s leading insurers: the Allstate Insurance Company and Aon are still based in the Chicago area. Underlining the insurance industry’s significance in the state, we list 40 lawyers from 21 firms in this chapter – the highest total for any practice area in this book. 

This chapter identifies lawyers with a proven track record of representing insurance underwriters, reinsurers, intermediaries and corporate insureds in contentious, contractual, regulatory and corporate matters. The research has uncovered a diverse set of firms – many of Illinois’s largest and bestknown corporate outfits rub shoulders with international powerhouses, and insurance and reinsurance boutiques. A number of firms stand out from the crowd, but when one takes into account the number of nominees and the level of recommendations they received, Lord Bissel & Brook LLP is unequivocally seen as a leading Illinois firm. One source noted: “Lord Bissell is clearly perceived to be the premier firm for insurance and reinsurance,” and former partners have spawned a number of the major insurance and reinsurance practices in the state. Nick Digiovanni, leader of Lord Bissell’s reinsurance group, “really stands out”. One of the most frequently nominated individuals, he deals primarily with insurance and reinsurance disputes, and we hear he is “particularly good for arbitration”. DiGiovanni is active in the International Association of Insurance Law’s (AIDA) reinsurance and insurance arbitration society; among other matters he successfully negotiated a favourable settlement for a major healthcare insurer relating to a US$300 million dispute in Texas regarding the sale of two health maintenance organisations (HMOs). John Gurley is senior partner in the firm’s insurance law practice and joins DiGiovanni in the final chapter, coming recommended as “one of the deans of the transactional practice in Chicago”. John Haarlow boosts Lord Bissell’s impressive showing and is seen as “a very bright lawyer with an impressive demeanour”. An “intellectual strategist”, Haarlow is one of the pre-eminent insurance coverage lawyers in the state and a “very well-regarded coverage lawyer for the insurance industry”. Mark Goodman was lauded as “terrific for transactional work” and is also active on the regulatory side. Stephen Murray is a “respected insurance lawyer – very professional”. Like Haarlow, he was praised as “very smart and excellent for insurance coverage work”. William Kelty completes Lord Bissell’s strong contingent in the chapter. Kelty “maintains an excellent reputation for corporate insurance work” and the past year has seen him involved in the restructuring of Hannover Re’s US property and casualty operations as well as working on various noninsurance corporate products for Visa International. In recent years, Kelty, the head of corporate at the firm, has also represented Bank One Corporation in its US$500 million acquisition of Zurich Life and Conseco insurance subsidiaries in the purchase of US$330 million in structured securities. 

Sidley Austin LLP emerges with flying colours. The firm is involved in “a significant amount of capital raising and investment side transactions” and is also well known for contentious and regulatory work. James Stinson co-chairs the 60-lawyer insurance and financial services group and is among the most respected practitioners in the state, according to our research. Praised as “a highly sophisticated attorney with a good reinsurance reputation”, he possesses “excellent skills”, according to one high-profile corporate source. Stinson – currently based in London as part of the firm’s expansion of its insurance practice – is said to be particularly good for insurance company insolvencies, an area in which the “very highly regarded” Susan Stone is also active. “A quite exceptional trial lawyer”, Stone teaches trial practice at DePaul University College of Law. William Sneed is a “fantastic reinsurance litigator” and “very smart and thorough”. Kenneth Wylie, who, like Stinson, currently practises in the London office, joins him in the final chapter. Wylie “knows the industry inside out” and is said to be “excellent from a regulatory point of view”. Aside from helping the London practice to grow, Wylie is working on reinsurance disputes regarding the London operations of US clients and is also busy on alternative risk transfer deals and insurance risk securitisation transactions. Michael Goldman co-chairs the insurance and financial services group with Stinson and is “a quite exceptional corporate lawyer – one of the best in the state”. Goldman represented the state’s first domestic mutual insurer to demutualise under Illinois’s current statute. Lovells opened its Chicago office in 1995 on the back of a strong international insurance and reinsurance practice. The firm has maintained its reputation in the field – particularly for contentious work.

Lovells is, however, also said to do “a good amount of regulatory and transactional work” and provides four partners for the following pages. The “terrific” Joe Mccullough heads the firm’s US insurance and reinsurance practice and was described as “fabulous, very commercial and very practical”. Eric Haab serves as managing partner of the Chicago office and his work regarding cross-border insurance insolvencies was pointed out to us. Neal Moglin continues Lovells’ strong showing and among other attributes he was recommended for his work on insurance and reinsurance arbitrations. Gail Goering’s dispute resolution work was also noted and she is part of what was described to us as an “excellent team”. 

Although the aforementioned firms undoubtedly offer quality and strength in depth, they provide only a small proportion of the lawyers for our list. A number of firms have two representatives in the following pages and of these many were particularly well thought of – the “outstanding” James Rubin from litigation boutique Butler Rubin Saltarelli & Boyd LLP for one. Rubin is among the area’s most respected figures and “one of the stars of the field”. He is reported to be “meticulous” and “established within the market”; his arbitral experience is said to compliment his reputation as an “excellent litigator”. Partner Robert Hermes was also well regarded for reinsurance arbitration among other things, and of the firm one interviewee remarked, “clients are always happy with [its] work”. DLA Piper LLP is also well thought of and Stephen Schwab was seen as “a real player in the market”. Schwab has a broad practice encompassing transactional, regulatory and contentious matters and is said to be “at the cutting edge”. David Mendelsohn was also consistently nominated, particularly for regulatory and transactional issues. The international nature of his practice is said to benefit from the global platform the firm provides and the last year saw him working on property, casualty, life, health and speciality lines such as crop insurance. Mendelsohn has also been drawing up global compliance programmes for companies, an area in which there has been increased activity. 

Mitchell Orpett is one of two high-profile nominees from Tribler Orpett & Meyer PC. The firm is said to be “excellent on the litigation side and very good at what they do”. Partner Wesley Sunu is also “well regarded”, “very competent” and, like Orpett, was recommended for his contentious work. Jenner & Block LLP is another firm with a strong litigation background and its lawyers were primarily recommended for their policyholder work. Accordingly, John Mathias was “absolutely top for policyholder and insurance coverage work”. A veteran trial lawyer, Mathias has served as lead counsel for clients such as American National Can Company, AM International, CSX Transportation and Dell Computer Corporation on insurance coverage cases. Co-chair of the firm’s reinsurance practice Joel Pelz collected a significant number of nominations, particularly for his skill as a reinsurance litigator. Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP was also consistently recommended during the research. John Shugrue is thought to be “excellent on the policyholder side”, in which respect he has represented corporations including Nicor Gas, Tribune Company, Kraft Foods, Union Pacific Railroad and Anadarko Petroleum. Shugrue served as co-chair of the American Bar Association’s section of litigation from 1997 to 2000. He is joined in this chapter by colleague Thomas Marrinson, who joined the firm from Scandaglia Marrinson Ryan and is said to be “terrific for coverage disputes”. 

Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw LLP also boasts a strong national and international insurance and reinsurance practice on the transactional and contentious sides. The firm is currently representing Dorinco Reinsurance in an arbitration initiated by Vesta Fire regarding a quota share treaty covering the personal lines business of the ceding company. They are also representing Bank of America in three related actions pending in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. John Vishneski was consistently recommended to researchers for policyholder work on insurance coverage disputes while Steven Gilford was praised as “very experienced”. At Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, Donna Vobornik serves as vice chair of the firm’s insurance practice group and was recommended as “a good choice” for insurance coverage litigation, particularly on environmental cases. The “very smart” Robert Johnson is head of the litigation practice in the Chicago office and is included alongside Vobornik. Johnson has, among others, represented St Paul Travelers, Swiss Re, Allstate Insurance Company and Great American Insurance Group.

Schiff Hardin LLP’s sole representative, David Spector, is one of Illinois’s most respected practitioners. One influential respondent noted Spector is: “very clever and I respect anything he writes,” whereas another praised him as “very smart with a deep industry knowledge”. A “talented and tough ligitator”, Spector is co-leader of the firm’s insurance group and his experience on insurance arbitrations was often noted. Robert Bates represents his firm, Bates & Carey LLP, in the chapter. The “highly respected” Bates is one of the area’s leading lights and seen as “practical, knowledgeable and effective”. Bates has handled several reinsurance arbitrations in the past year, three of which went to trial and judgment last autumn. On the litigation side, he is currently representing Employers Re in a dispute with Western Asbestos Trust, pending in California state court in San Francisco, acting as lead counsel for American Re in American Re v USF&G, pending in state court in New York City, and he also acted as lead counsel to Constitution Re in Travelers v Constitution Re, which was pending in federal court in Detroit and recently settled. 

LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae LLP’s insurance practice was significantly bolstered by the 2005 hire of James Dwyer from Lord Bissell & Brook. The “extremely able” Dwyer splits his time between the firm’s New York and Chicago offices and is reportedly “one of the premier M&A lawyers in Illinois specialising in insurance”. Representative matters on the corporate side include representing Hartford Life Insurance Company in its US$1.1 billion acquisition of the annuity, life and investment businesses of the Fortis Financial Group. Dwyer also represented Lincoln National Corporation in its US$7.5 billion merger with Jefferson- Pilot Corporation, the Fortune 500 company based in Greensboro, North Carolina. 

Michael Pope heads the international product liability practice group at McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is a prominent player and “an excellent trial lawyer”. Sources noted Pope’s experience in handling reinsurance disputes and he is admired as “an exceptional lawyer for the insurance industry”. Edward Zulkey represents Baker & McKenzie LLP in this chapter. He serves as general counsel to the firm. “Professionally courteous, easy to deal with and well regarded”, Zulkey is said to be “very experienced”. The “top-rate” Jill Berkeley co-chairs Howrey LLP’s insurance recovery practice and was recommended among other things for her diverse practice representing both policyholders and claimants in coverage litigation. Sources acclaimed Timothy Burns’s “outstanding directors’ & officers’ practice”. Burns is a partner at Neal Gerber & Eisenberg LLP and is also said to be “top for policy holder and insurance coverage work”. Richard Geddes is a “senior and highly respected attorney” who currently acts as managing partner of Sedgwick Detert Moran & Arnold LLP’s Chicago office. Geddes co-chairs the firm’s international counseling and arbitration practice group, an area for which he was highly recommended. Thomas Keegan of Keegan Laterza Lofgren & Gleason PC was commended as a “consummate professional, easy to work with […] he represents his clients zealously yet productively.” Keegan was managing partner of the Chicago office of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP before joining KLLG and his work on insurance coverage disputes was noted to researchers. Michael Foradas of Kirkland & Ellis LLP is an “excellent lawyer from an excellent firm” and was recommended as “one of the most experienced insurance coverage lawyers around”. The “highly regarded” Carolyn Rosenberg of Sachnoff & Weaver Ltd also received high praise during the research. Rosenberg chairs the firm’s insurance coverage group and maintains a “very strong national reputation”, particularly for policyholder work.

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