Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP Dramatically Expands Its Reinsurance Practice

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, which Law360 ranked among the top insurance firms in 2014, recently expanded its reinsurance practice. As part of its 130-plus attorney Insurance & Reinsurance Practice Group, it now has 25 attorneys across the U.S. and in London dedicated to various aspects of reinsurance, making it among the largest, most sophisticated full-service reinsurance practices in the nation. 

"Our expansion was a response to our clients' demand for both quality and capacity, in other words, a large team of skilled, experienced attorneys nationwide who can meet a client's various reinsurance needs," says New York City partner Edward K. Lenci, who has focused on reinsurance dispute resolution for more than two decades and coordinates the firm's reinsurance practice. "We now have legal and practical experience in virtually every aspect of reinsurance, including regulations and transactions, contract wording, loss allocation, and dispute resolution." 

This growth results from a number of moves by the firm in the last year to attract top insurance and reinsurance talent. In October 2014, Hinshaw merged with Barger & Wolen LLP, a household name in the insurance and reinsurance business. The merger brought Hinshaw an established team of attorneys, on both coasts, with experience in the reinsurance of life, health and property and casualty risks as well as regulatory and transactional matters.

Hinshaw further expanded its reinsurance services with the addition to its San Francisco office of Forrest Booth, an internationally recognized admiralty and maritime attorney who has a significant marine and energy reinsurance practice.

Most recently, the firm added nine attorneys from Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick & Pearson LLP in Chicago, including its insurance department chair, Scott M. Seaman. Seaman has an eminent national practice representing insurers and reinsurers in complex insurance coverage, bad faith, and reinsurance matters. He serves as co-chair of the Claims Litigation Management Alliance's Reinsurance and Run-Off Advisory Board, wrote a chapter entitled "Pertinent Reinsurance Contract Provisions" in the Reinsurance Professional's Deskbook - A Practical Guide (2015 - 2016 Ed. Thomson Reuters), and co-authors the well-known treatise Allocation Of Losses In Complex Insurance Claims (3d Ed. Thomson Reuters 2014).