Industry Presence

IFNY INTERNS PROGRAM UPDATE

The Insurance Federation of New York (IFNY) is a trade association whose membership is drawn from all segments of New York’s insurance industry and the professional firms that serve it. Edwards Wildman partner Nick Pearson is the President of IFNY, and initiated the IFNY Intern program, which introduces motivated local high school students from disadvantaged personal circumstances to the New York insurance and financial services sector. The insurance industry is a major provider of skilled jobs and rewarding careers in New York, and this exposure offers a strong and timely incentive to these young New Yorkers to pursue their dreams through education and professional training. The 2013 IFNY Interns program just completed its second summer which ran from July 8th through August 9th.

This year was another successful year for IFNY Interns, with $30,000 raised from IFNY members in support of the two charitable organizations that make the program possible: YesSolutions!, run by Mary Lanning, administers IFNY Interns (taking the time from her other career as a well-known insurance consultant) and Boys Hope Girls Hope, the residence-based organization that houses and mentors the young men and women from among whom the IFNY Interns are selected. In addition, a number of IFNY member insurance companies and producers, and law, accounting and consulting firms hosted the Interns in their offices for one-or-two-day sessions, where the teens got to see what goes on “behind the scenes.”

Edwards Wildman did its part as the first to host the Interns, who spent two days at our New York office. There they met our lawyers, secretaries and office administrators, and IT, accounting and office services staffs, and learned what a wide variety of jobs are needed for a law firm to function. The high point of their visit was a mock trial in which the interns participated as litigants and jurors. As was the case last summer, the feedback was universally positive, with the Edwards Wildman participants deeply gratified by the experience, and the interns reporting that they were inspired to consider career opportunities of which they had been unaware. As Nick Pearson notes, “IFNY Interns is becoming a much anticipated yearly tradition at Edwards Wildman with many of our people donating their time and hard work to make it a success.” We look forward to hosting the IFNY Interns again next summer. And that’s unanimous!

The Road to the Rendez-Vous is paved with pain but in a good cause - Cycling 760 miles for Wooden Spoon

• On Friday 30 August, Chris Finney (London), Steve Rowan (Edwards Wildman Deputy Chief Operating Officer) and up to 80 insurance professionals will start a 760-mile bicycle ride to raise money for Wooden Spoon. The ride starts at Lloyd's of London and finishes 8 days later at the Rendez-Vous reinsurance conference in Monte Carlo. Chris explained: "Wooden Spoon is a charity. It uses team sports and exercise to make a positive impact on the lives of physically, mentally and economically disadvantaged children. Wooden Spoon will use the money we raise to build sports facilities that will help it to continue this vital work." Steve added: "We're really grateful to all of our sponsors. In particular, I'd like to thank Toys"R"Us, Paragon, ProQuest (a division of Alliant) and Jamieson Corporate Finance LLP for their very generous donations. We’re going to need all the financial encouragement we can get to keep those pedals turning. And Wooden Spoon will soon put the money to good use!" Chris and Steve's fund-raising page is here.
  

Accolades

• Rob DiUbaldo (New York) was re-elected as President of the U.S. Reinsurance Under 40s Group for the 2013-2014 term.
  

Speaking Engagements

• David Kendall (London) chaired the joint BILA/IACP seminar on the topic of “What Do Insurers Want from Their Lawyers?” at Lloyd’s on July 19, 2013.
  
  
• On July 18th, Laura Wilkinson and Deming Sherman, (Providence), presented a seminar entitled “Ethics, Conduct and Communications Under the Rules of Professional Conduct” to an insurance industry audience in our New York office.
  
  
• John Hughes, Jacquelyn Burke, and Greg Pendleton (Boston) spoke at the Edwards Wildman webinar entitled “Fundamentals of, and Insurance Coverage for, Merger Objections Suits: The Basics” on July 17, 2013.
  
  
• Nick Pearson (New York), President of the Insurance Federation of New York (IFNY), presided over an IFNY luncheon held in Edwards Wildman’s New York offices on July 12th at which David Brummond, Senior Sanctions Advisor – Insurance in the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in the U.S. Treasury Department, addressed a group of IFNY members and their guests.
  
  
• Laurie Kamaiko (New York) and Mark Schreiber (Boston) were panelists at the NetDiligence Cyber Risk & Privacy Forum held June 6-7, 2013 in Philadelphia. Laurie’s panel was Data Analytics and Aggregators, and Mark’s was International Exposure: Canada and Europe Update. Ted Augustinos (Hartford) and Brian Green (New York) also attended the Conference. Edwards Wildman will be Co-Chair of the NetDiligence West Coast Cyber Conference to be held on October 10-11, 2013 in Marina Del Rey, California.
  
  
• On June 4, Edwards Wildman held its 12th Annual Half-Day Insurance and Reinsurance Seminar in its New York offices. The program included: “Insurance Linked Securities: The Convergence of Insurance and the Capital Markets,” presented by Albert Pinzon (New York) and Barry Weissman (Los Angeles); “NAIC Amendments to the Insurance Company Holding Act Focusing on Enterprise Risk,” presented by Aileen Meehan (New York)”; “How to Handle a Government Subpoena,” presented by Carlos Ortiz (New Jersey) and Mark Peters (New York)”; “Developments in Healthcare Privacy Exposure,” presented by Ted Augustinos (Hartford) and Eric Fader (New York); and “Dodging Antitrust Risks in Insurance Underwriting Claims,” presented by Tom Bush (Chicago).
  
  
• David Kendall (London) spoke on the Aggregation of Serial Claims at the AIDA/FERMA Joint Conference on European Insurance Law in Paris on June 3, 2013.
  
  
• Nick Pearson (New York) spoke on regulatory issues at Insurance Insider’s InsiderScope conference in NYC on May 9th.
  
  
• Mark Everiss (London) hosted a panel at the IACP London Conference on May 2, 2013 entitled "Hydrofracking - Future Energy; Future Risk?". The speakers on the panel included Huhnsik Chung (New York), Dominick Hoare, joint active underwriter, Watkins Syndicate, and Andrew Rees from Matthews Daniel, London.
  
  
• Ted Augustinos (Hartford) chaired a panel on “Network Privacy and Data Breach” at the Cyber Liabilities Insurance ExecuSummit held April 23 and 24, which was also attended by Laurie Kamaiko (New York) and Karen Booth (Hartford).
  
  
• Tom Bush (Chicago) spoke at a Brokers and Reinsurance Markets Association conference on Dodging Antitrust Risks in Insurance and Reinsurance on April 22 in Tampa, Florida.
  

Upcoming Presentations

• Anthony Hopp (Litigation Department, Chicago), and Rob DiUbaldo (New York) will present a webinar on Fracking the New Albany Shale: Legal and Technical Developments in 2013 and Beyond” on August 14, 2013.
  
  
• Tom Bush (Chicago) and Beckett McGrath (Litigation Department, London), will be presenting a seminar entitled “Mitigating Competition Law Risks in Insurance & Reinsurance” on September 25, 2013.
  
  
• On October 4, 2013, the IUA will be hosting its Catastrophe Risk Management Seminar 2013. Huhnsik Chung (New York) will be speaking on shale gas and fracking issues.
  
  
• Huhnsik Chung will also speak on shale gas and fracking issues on October 21 at the London Market Association Masterclass
  
  
• John Hughes (Boston) will be speaking at the 17th Annual D&O Conference, October 21-22, 2013, and the 2nd Financial Institutions Conference, both presented by the American Conference Institute, in New York.
  
  
• On October 22, 2013, Edwards Wildman’s London office is hosting an IRLA Academy program entitled “Unlocking value – valuation techniques and strategic considerations,” which is being led by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mark Everiss (London) is chairing the program and Chris Finney (London) is speaking in the session on “Unlocking capital in run-off – drivers and opportunities.”
  

Articles

• John Hughes, Jonathan Toren, and Greg Pendleton (Boston) co-authored an article entitled “Shareholder Derivative Litigation: A Primer for Insurance Coverage Counsel and Other Lawyers, Too.” The article will be published in the August 2013 edition of The Brief.
  
  
• Craig Stewart and Eric Hermanson’s (Boston) article, “Mutual Pharmaceutical v. Bartlett: The Supreme Court Reaffirms Preemption of State-Law Claims Against Generic Drug Manufacturers,” was published in Lexology, on June 28, 2013.
  
  
• Eric Hermanson and Jonathan Toren (Boston) wrote an article, “Retained Limits, Deductibles, and Self-Insurance,” published in the May 2013 issue of DRI’s For The Defense. The article discusses the legal distinctions between retained limits and deductibles, and the complex coverage issues and shifting caselaw that claim personnel may encounter in construing these clauses.
  
  
• Eric Hermanson (Boston) was quoted in a report, “California Court Shows Insurers How To Duck Policy-Stacking Rule” (April 2013), regarding the California Court of Appeals’ recent ruling in Kaiser Cement & Gypsum Corp. v. Insurance Co. of the State of Pennsylvania.
  
  
• Rob DiUbaldo (New York) was quoted in an April 12, 2013 article in Risk & Insurance entitled “Sports and Entertainment: Concussions Rock Sports,” in which he analyzed certain issues related to the wave of concussion lawsuits that have been brought recently against professional and amateur sports organizations and other entities.
  

Contacts

For further details on any of the above email:
InsuranceInquiries@edwardswildman.com