Practices

Insurance

Why Cooley

Cooley’s insurance practice is a multidisciplinary team of lawyers with significant experience in insurance litigation, transactions and regulation. The team represents policyholders from numerous industries, including Fortune 500 companies, as well as producers, insurers, reinsurers and investors. The group provides a full spectrum of insurance services for Cooley’s global client base.

As recognized by Chambers, the group is “incredibly client-friendly,” “always available and responsive,” and a “good team to work with” that has a “fantastic understanding of the insurance sector and a very keen eye for detail.” Chambers’ feedback also notes that Cooley members are “responsive, incisive and practical,” while The Legal 500 ranks the group and comments that the “quality of advice provided” is “outstanding, particularly when advising on extremely technical and complex issues across different jurisdictions.”

Cooley’s coverage lawyers have advised on, handled or litigated claims involving virtually every type of commercial insurance policy, including:

  • First-party insurance, such as cyber risk, property, business interruption, event cancellation, political risk, kidnap and ransom, crime/fidelity, equipment breakdown, product recall/contamination, marine cargo, and trade credit
  • Third-party insurance, such as general liability, management (D&O) liability, employment practices liability (EPL), professional (E&O) liability, fiduciary liability, life sciences/product liability, reps and warranties (R&W), litigation buyouts, and Bermuda Form

Cooley’s lawyers have handled coverage matters in judicial tribunals and arbitrations throughout the US, the UK, Bermuda and elsewhere in the world. The team also has conducted hundreds of coverage reviews and has extensive experience with insurance issues relating to a wide range of losses and liabilities, traditional and emerging, including:

  • Natural disasters and loss events
  • Human-made disasters and loss events
  • Governmental investigations
  • Consumer actions and arbitrations
  • Board and investor disputes
  • Securities class actions, merger objections and derivative lawsuits
  • Cyber/data security breach liability
  • Cyber asset loss and business interruptions from hacker attacks
  • Sexual misconduct or harassment by employees
  • Sports-related injuries
  • Intellectual property violations
  • Product contaminations and recalls
  • Political risks, including kidnappings
  • Environmental liability, asbestos-related claims and other toxic tort suits
  • Counter-party insolvency

Areas of Practice

Corporate

  • Assist clients in structuring, drafting, negotiating and obtaining regulatory approval of operations and agreements, including unique and complex insurance and reinsurance agreements
  • Assist insurance companies and insurtech entrepreneurs with shaping new technology within the global insurance regulatory framework, and developing peer-to-peer app-based and data-driven insurance solutions and products
  • Represent parties in connection with significant equity investments by insurers, venture capital and private equity firms
  • Counsel on the formation, licensing, acquisition, and sale of carriers, brokers and agents

Litigation

  • Advise clients on policy coverage issues and provide practical coverage analyses
  • Represent clients in insurance arbitration and court cases, including multijurisdictional disputes
  • Assist clients in resolving disputes through alternative means, such as mediation and negotiation
  • Advise private institutions, including colleges and universities, on risk management issues and complex insurance claims involving accusations of sexual abuse and other misconduct
  • Review contract wordings and advise on insurance structures and programs

Business Restructuring & Reorganization

  • Advise debtors, creditor committees, and other bankruptcy stakeholders in connection with bankruptcies, insolvencies and related proceedings
  • Identify and evaluate unused insurance coverages across a wide range of policies, including directors and officers insurance and general liability
  • Provide accurate calculation of existing insurance assets, creating a clearer picture of the broader insurance landscape and a more informed insurance recovery strategy
  • Identify and advocate for Caremark-type breaches of duty by directors and officers