Our team has extensive experience in designing sophisticated reinsurance arrangements, including clash, contingency, alternate risk transfer, excess of loss, coinsurance, modified coinsurance, and other complex structures. We implement various forms of collateral arrangements to provide security or comply with state laws and regulations governing financial statement credit for ceded reinsurance. Our practice includes major transactions involving assumption reinsurance, indemnity reinsurance, and the sale of renewal rights.
Representative Engagements – Reinsurance Transactions
- Assisted a large corporation in unique reinsurance and capital enhancement transactions for Lloyd’s, London syndicates.
- Advised a major financial insurance company on reinsurance transactions involving blocks of debit life, term life, and long-term care insurance business.
- Guided a major life insurance company in acquiring the annuity, life, and investment businesses of a large financial services group for $1.1 billion.
- Facilitated the sale of a leading life insurer’s individual life insurance business for $1 billion.
- Managed the reinsurance of over $3 billion of life and annuity reserve liabilities for a national life insurance company.
- Supported a Canadian insurance company in an indemnity and assumption reinsurance transaction involving U.S. fixed annuities and accumulation riders.
We represent clients from across the country and internationally, practicing before state insurance departments, counseling on all aspects of operations, and litigating in state and federal courts. We are active in state and federal legislative matters and participate in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) programs. Our regulatory work includes:
- Drafting insurance legislation and regulations for government agencies.
- Serving as U.S. counsel for transactional/regulatory work for one of the world’s largest reinsurers.
- Assisting leading U.S. and European reinsurers in discussions with foreign insurance regulators.
- Forming and capitalizing domestic and offshore reinsurance companies.
- Advising on licensing, TPA and MGA matters, accreditation, financial statement credit issues, security and collateral issues, market conduct issues, use of terrorism exclusions, financial reinsurance/surplus relief issues, insolvency rights and remedies, cut-through endorsements, and arbitration remedies.
- Negotiating and obtaining regulatory approval for administration agreements and reinsurance pools.
- Designing and forming offshore captive insurers and advising on tax issues related to premium payments, controlled foreign corporation (CFC) issues, and related person insurance income (RPII) issues.
Our attorneys handle high-level disputes in property and casualty and life and health reinsurance, addressing issues such as late notice, transaction-related purchase price disputes, rescission and misrepresentation, coverage disputes, reserve methodology, rights to reinsurance collateral, duty to disclose material change in risk, ECO and XPL clauses, direct action rights, number of occurrences, salvage and subrogation, loss adjustment expense allocation, aggregation, net retained lines, premium disputes, follow the fortunes, claims cooperation, set-offs, and right-to-associate clauses.
Our team provides comprehensive resolution services and, where necessary, aggressive arbitration, litigation, and trial skills. Our experience with individual arbitrators and umpires offers valuable insights for strategic case presentation. We routinely arbitrate and litigate reinsurance disputes globally and in U.S. state and federal courts, including New York, California, Florida, Illinois, Texas, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., Alabama, and Arizona.
- Chambers USA – Insurance – Texas (2022-2025)
- Chambers USA – Insurance: Dispute Resolution: Insurer – Nationwide (2007-2017; 2022-2025)
- Chambers USA – Insurance: Dispute Resolution: Reinsurance – Illinois (2019-2025)
- Chambers USA – Insurance: Insurer – District of Columbia (2005-2025)
- Chambers USA – Insurance: Insurer – California (2007-2025)
- Chambers USA – Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory – Illinois (2019-2025)
- Legal 500 USA – Insurance: Advice to Insurers (Nationwide) (2020-2025)
- Insurance Business America – 5-Star Excellence Award (2021)
- Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”: Insurance Law – (National) (Tier 1) 2010-2025
- Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”: Insurance Law – (Atlanta) (Tier 2) 2024-2025
- Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”: Insurance Law – (Chicago) (Tier 1) 2019-2025
- Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”: Insurance Law – (Houston) (Tier 1) 2025
- Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”: Insurance Law – (New York) (Tier 2) 2025
- Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”: Insurance Law – (Orange County) (Tier 2) 2019-2023; (Tier 1) 2024-2025
- Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”: Insurance Law – (San Francisco) (Tier 2) 2019-2025
- Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”: Insurance Law – (Washington, D.C.) (Tier 1) 2010-2017; 2020-2025
