Directors and Officers

We represent professional liability insurers in high-stakes, complex claims.  While most of the claims we handle arise from directors & officers liability (D&O) policies, insurers that underwrite D&O insurance typically also underwrite errors & omissions (E&O) insurance for financial institutions and financial services firms, as well as for other business professionals, including investment banks, investment advisors, accounting firms, and large law firms.  For this reason, we regularly handle large E&O claims involving the same kinds of underlying litigation and governmental investigation claims activity that involve D&O policies.

Our insurer representations as coverage and monitoring counsel for D&O/FI insurer clients typically include the following component tasks:

• Following an initial assessment of the claim documents and relevant insurance coverage information, the preparation of an initial report and draft coverage position letter for our insurer client;
• Contact with the insured or defense counsel to arrange and conduct a liability, damages and coverage investigation;
• Ongoing monitoring of the litigation and regular contact with defense counsel, while maintaining a regular reporting line of communications with the insurer client;
• Damage analysis; and
• Active participation in claim settlements where client insurer funds are being contributed.  These tasks require work performed at different levels of seniority and experience, necessitating a team approach to the handling of these matters.

The D&O Practice Group has an insurance practice focused on the representation of professional liability insurers as coverage/monitoring and coverage litigation counsel.  Other practice specialty areas include representations of insurance brokers on regulatory, transactional and litigation matters and the defense of employment-practices claims.

Our attorneys work with primary and excess domestic U.S., European and Bermuda insurers on a wide variety of significant claims involving directors and officers of public and private companies, as well as similar kinds of reputational risk litigation involving financial institution and financial services insureds.

Our team has significant involvement with respect to some of the last decade's largest scandals involving directors and officers and financial and professional insurance, including:

• Adelphia
• Enron
• Lehman Brothers
• IPO Laddering
• Madoff-Related Litigation
• Options Backdating-Related Litigation.
• Subprime/Credit Crisis-Related Litigation
• Tyco
• Worldcom

In addition to our involvement as coverage and monitoring counsel in these complex claims, we also represent insurers in coverage litigation and arbitration arising under these types of insurance policies.

D&O insurers also call on our lawyers to assist in drafting policies and endorsements as well as in identifying risk management and risk evaluation tools to assist insurers in better managing these insured exposures.

Lawyers in our D&O Practice Group are also regularly involved in educational and insurance industry programs and seminars for D&O insurance professionals dealing with cutting-edge issues in the law and in the D&O marketplace.