Overview
The insurance industry faces many challenges, from e-commerce, market consolidation, new competitors and changing industry regulations and oversight. With more than 90 years of experience serving the insurance industry and a global reputation for excellence, Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell helps clients meet these challenges while preparing for the opportunities of tomorrow.
We represent clients ranging from publicly-traded, international insurers to family-owned insurance agencies, including traditional insurance business clients such as insurers, producers, premium finance companies, third-party administrators, managing general agencies, insurance guaranty funds and state insurance departments. We also represent other business entities in connection with their subsidiary insurance operations, including banks, leasing companies and retailers. We represent reinsurance clients across the United States, the United Kingdom, continental Europe and Asia.
In 2008, Locke Lord was ranked as the No. 1 law firm in the United States in three separate practice areas by Reactions magazine, an international insurance industry magazine that conducts an extensive survey of in-house counsel. Locke Lord was the only U.S. firm that received commendations in all seven specific practice areas surveyed and was also singled out as one of the top two U.S. firms overall. Locke Lord’s international presence also was recognized since it was the only U.S. law firm to receive commendation as one of the top insurance and reinsurance firms in the Bermuda market.
Additionally, Locke Lord was also ranked as the No. 1 law firm in the United States by Global Broker & Underwriter magazine in its 2008 legal survey in reinsurance, regulation, litigation, policy drafting, corporate work (contracts, capital and mergers and acquisitions), and alternative risk transfer and insurance linked securities. As well, three of our insurance attorneys were named in the The Legal 500 United States-2008 Edition for their work in insurance and reinsurance.
More than 50 of our lawyers devote a substantial portion of their transactional, regulatory, securities, finance and tax practices to representing the insurance industry – a commitment that ensures efficient, effective handling of numerous large acquisitions and regulatory engagements.
Locke Lord is one of the few U.S. firms with a large group of corporate attorneys with substantial experience in insurance regulation. Regulatory representation has enabled us to remain at the forefront of regulatory initiatives and issues that most concern our clients. This experience also enables us to provide enhanced value and insight into many issues associated with mergers, dispositions and acquisitions of insurance companies or their insurance-related assets and liabilities through various forms of reinsurance and the sale of renewal rights.
We have clients nationwide and our practice is international in scope. It includes both the property/casualty and life/health sides of the industry. We routinely practice before all state insurance departments. We are active in various state and federal legislative matters and routinely participate in the activities of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).
Regulatory Services
Locke Lord’s insurance regulatory services include counseling clients on licensing/authorizing insurance companies on an admitted or surplus line basis, product evaluation and form filing, and financial examination and market conduct examination issues. Our attorneys also have extensive experience in licensing of producers, administrators and other entities (both in traditional settings and in evolving electronic distribution), affiliated and other holding company act transactions, various aspects of reinsurance (such as financial statement credit and statutory accounting issues, use of cut-through endorsements, collateral arrangements, insolvency-related risks and administrative services arrangements), investment compliance, corporate governance, insolvencies and insurance guaranty fund representation.
We quickly and efficiently analyze regulatory issues and concerns that arise in the due diligence phase of transactional opportunities, in negotiating representations, warranties, covenants and indemnities, and in evaluating structural alternatives and other issues that may color the regulatory approval process.
We have an accomplished bench of insurance regulatory lawyers in our offices across the United States. Our team includes a former Iowa Insurance Commissioner and President of the NAIC, who concentrates his practice on a wide range of insurance regulatory matters, including market conduct and financial examination problems. A former Deputy Commissioner of the California Department of Insurance and the former Chief Examiner of the New York State Insurance Department add substantially to our insurance regulatory capability as non-lawyer specialists.
We assist many clients in responding to market conduct examinations and to subpoenas from state insurance departments and state attorneys general. In addition, we frequently conduct compliance reviews.
Our insurance lawyers work closely with our managed care lawyers for clients involved in the health insurance and managed care business.
We review privacy policies and procedures for compliance with the major privacy laws, with a focus on review of control structures and training programs, as well as help insurers implement the multiple layers of information security requirements simultaneously and efficiently. We have long-term experience with retention and production of e-records, particularly unstructured data such as emails, and have helped clients develop new policies and programs and investigate existing and potential controls available to enable compliance with these policies and programs.
Corporate and Transactional Services
Locke Lord’s corporate and transactional services for the insurance industry include all corporate and regulatory aspects of insurance merger and acquisition transactions. We have the resources to handle and have been involved in some of the most significant insurance M&A transactions in the U.S; we also are flexible enough to appropriately staff small transactions as well. Our insurance M&A experience includes both property/casualty and life/health insurers, as well as brokers, third party administrators, warranty companies and other insurance related service providers.
In addition to M&A transactions, we also handle sales of blocks of business through reinsurance arrangements and renewal rights transactions. We also are one of the few firms in the U.S. who have handles significant demutualization transactions. We also represent clients in surplus not and trust preferred issuances by insurers, and along with out corporate securities lawyers are actively involved in capital raising transactions and other capital raising for insurers.
Our understanding of the regulations affecting transactions makes the firm a key component to business transactions both domestically and abroad.
Life Insurance Policy Settlement and Secondary Market Securitizations Services
Counseling in the life settlement industry requires a combination of knowledge and experience with life settlement business processes – and Locke Lord has a proven track record in this segment of the insurance industry. Representation requires means a broad understanding of the regulatory landscape and the administrative, privacy, taxation and securities laws involved. We combine this knowledge with real-world experience in life settlement transactions and relationships so our clients can develop and implement practical, innovative and effective solutions to real problems and issues in the life settlement industry.
Our experience is international in scope and ranges from representing small start-up life settlement providers, brokers and financing entities to representing established industry players around the globe.
Locke Lord attorneys help clients obtain licenses and undergo market conduct examinations. We are experienced at drafting privacy policies and privacy compliance programs to comply with a variety of federal and state privacy issues. We offer advice on taxation issues unique to the life settlement industry and know how to navigate multi-state insurance regulations. Locke Lord’s thorough understanding of NAIC regulations and governance gives us a big picture perspective and a firm grasp on industry trends and changes.
Our attorneys know the life settlement industry and our experience helps clients become licensed, obtain financing, complete deals and establish relationships. We regularly write and speak on industry issues for various industry groups.
Captive Insurance Services
Locke Lord’s attorneys have decades of experience in the captive insurance and alternative risk transfer areas of the insurance industry. We organize captive insurance companies and have done extensive work structuring so-called “exotic” captive insurance companies as well as cell captives.
Our experience extends to the areas of insurance regulation, taxation, securities and corporate aspects of captives. We counsel clients on capital structure, including appropriate provisions and wording for the captives’ articles of incorporation, bylaws, shareholders agreements and other related corporate documents. We help clients meet insurance regulatory, financial and investment requirements.
Recently, we represented the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in drafting insurance and tax legislation and regulations to permit the formation and operation of exempt insurers to write non-Puerto Rico coverage (similar to Bermuda and other offshore jurisdictions).
Our attorneys have a thorough understanding of reinsurance arrangements, including collateralization requirements and financial statement credit for reinsurance obligations. Our experience also includes application of producer licensing laws and state unauthorized insurer laws, as well as securities law requirements, including SEC and blue sky registration requirements as well as anti-fraud disclosure requirements.