Reinsurance Contract Wordings and Disputes, Bermuda

Date	6-7 Oct 2010
Venue	Fairmont Hamilton Princess · Please contact us for help with booking accommodation
Price	USD 1650.00 / GBP 995.00 Members of our Training Partnership scheme pay USD 825.00 / GBP 497.00
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Course overview

In reinsurance contracts, it is quite common practice for the wordings, which define the obligations of the parties, to be neglected. This results in the contract being unclear about the relationship between the reinsured and the reinsurer. Unfortunately, issues such as these often cause problems between the parties in later years and can lead to costly disputes.

In this conference, leading experts from the USA, Bermuda and the UK, give a step-by-step guide to the world of reinsurance wordings, making this an ideal programme for junior and mid-level lawyers in the reinsurance industry and a useful refresher for those who are more experienced.

During this conference many of the important issues that need to be taken into consideration at the contract negotiation and drafting phase will be highlighted. The programme is designed to be highly practical and plenty of time will be set aside for questions and discussion between the audience and the expert panel of speakers.

THE MOCK DISPUTE

The programme also includes a mock reinsurance dispute session, that will further illustrate some of the problematic wordings that have been discussed during the conference and how they are dealt with in the event of a dispute.

Who should attend?

• Wordings technicians
• Reinsurance technicians
• Claims managers
• Wordings specialists
• In-house lawyers
• Lawyers in private practice
• Anyone who is involved in the drafting or implementation of reinsurance wordings

The benefits

By attending this conference, you will:

• MASTER the basic legal principles of reinsurance terms and contract wordings
• GET-TO-GRIPS with the common clauses and legal considerations
• LEARN about the complexities of follow and clauses especially followng the Lexington –v- Wasa judgment
• HEAR ABOUT the developments in the London Market and US Market concerning contract certainty and other related issues
• GET UP-TO-DATE with latest developments and current practice in the law applicable to reinsurance contracts
• FIND OUT MORE about the use of notice and information clauses
• GAIN KNOWLEDGE of how to protect against credit risk in uncertain times through using the correct contract clauses
• UNDERSTAND about the interplay between entire agreement and arbitration clauses
• EXPERIENCE how disputes arising from wordings are dealt with in arbitration

Programme - Day 1

6 October 2010

 

0915 Registration and coffee

0945 Chair’s introduction
Larry P. Schiffer, Partner, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, New York
John M. Nonna, Partner, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, New York

1000 Has the industry achieved contract certainty?

• Developments in the US and UK
• Roadblocks to contract certainty
• What contract certainty really means
• The Model Signing Provisions
• Contract certainty efforts elsewhere
Robert Easton, Chief Compliance Officer, Deputy General Counsel and Risk Manager, Integro Insurance Brokers, New York, USA; Formerly Deputy Superintendant and General Counsel, New York State Insurance Department
And
Kevin Lazarus, Solicitor, Lloyds Legal and Compliance, London

1045 Coffee

1100 Contracting for emerging risks

• How to use a reinsurance contact to anticipate emerging risks
• Limiting unknown exposures
• Emerging and developing regulations and case law
• The role of the contract wording specialist
Carol-Ann O’Dea, Senior Vice President and Claims Manager, Partner Re US, Connecticut, USA
And
Arthur Gang, was Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Partner Re US, Connecticut, USA

1200 Developments in property and catastrophe clauses

• Damage clauses
• Events clauses
• Hours clauses
Richard Appel, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Endurance Reinsurance Corporation of America (ERCA)

1300 Lunch

1415 The law applicable to reinsurance contracts

• Common law rules
• European developments: the Rome I Regulation
• Incorporatiom of choice of law clauses into reinsurance contracts
• Back-to-back cover
Professor Robert Merkin, Professor of Law, Southampton University, UK, Consultant to Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, London

1500 Developments in notice and information clauses

• Reporting and botice clauses
• Late notice issues
• Access to records clauses
Professor Robert Merkin
Nick Miles, Special Counsel, Bermuda, Sedgwick Chudleigh
Myra E. Lobel, Managing Director, Guy Carpenter & Co, USA

1600 Tea

1615 Follow-the-fortunes: Life After Lexington v Wasa

• What’s a clause for?
• What does it achieve in practice?
• The concept of back-to-back reinsurance
• Why was Lexington vs Wasa different?
• Drafting responses to Lexington vs Wasa
John M. Nonna
Anthony Menzies, Partner, Taylor Wessing, UK
Narinder Hargun, Director, Conyers Dill and Pearman, Bermuda

1730 Close of Day One

Programme - Day 2

7 October 2010

 

0900 introduction

0915 Protecting against credit risk in uncertain times

• Cut-through clauses
• Special termination clauses
• Downgrade clauses
• Run-off reinsurer clauses
Robert Merkin
And
Myra E. Lobel

1030 Coffee

1045 The interplay between entire agreement and arbitration clauses

• Reliance on evidence of placement and negotiation
• Drafting the reinsurance contract to include representations and warranties
• Limiting the use of placing information
Peter Dunlop, Counsel, Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki, Bermuda
Dan FitzMaurice, Partner, Day Pitney, USA

1200 Introduction to the mock dispute

Based on a scenario that will be distributed to delegates, this session features a mock multi-jurisdictional dispute based on contract wording issues. Participants from the UK, USA and Bermuda will act as advocates, arbitrators and witnesses.

Counsel:
Larry P. Schiffer
Deirdre Johnson, Partner, Crowell & Moring LLP, Washington DC

Panel of arbitrators:
Rod Attride-Stirling, Senior Partner, Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki, Bermuda
Harry Tipper III, Nepenthe Investment Company, Bermuda
_Paul E. Dassenko

1230 Lunch

1345 The Mock Dispute – Part 1

A hearing before the Arbitration Panel on whether the cedent should be compelled by the panel to disclose legal advice it obtained from its counsel on a coverage issue concerning the construction of the contract.

1445Tea

1500 The Mock Dispute – Part 2

A segment from the hearing with a witness on a disputed and ambiguous contract term.

1630 Close of seminar

The expert faculty

Conference chairs

Larry P. Schiffer is a partner in the New York office of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, practicing commercial, insurance, and reinsurance litigation, arbitration, and mediation. He also provides advice on coverage and contract wording issues for a wide variety of insurance and reinsurance relationships. He is active in legal and industry associations where he has held various leadership positions. He has lectured in the U.S. and the U.K., and has been widely published on reinsurance and other insurance, litigation, and technology topics in various national and international journals and publications. He serves as an Expert Commentator on reinsurance for IRMI.com (International Risk Management Institute, Inc. website) and co-authored the chapter on reinsurance in the New York State Bar Association’s Insurance Law Practice treatise. He has been recognized by Chambers USA, Euromoney Guide to the World’s Leading Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers, The International Who’s Who of Insurance & Reinsurance Lawyers, The Legal 500, and Super Lawyers. Mr. Schiffer received his J.D. from Albany Law School, where he graduated cum laude, was a member of the Albany Law Review and a member of the Justinian Society, and received his B.A. magna cum laude from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. He was admitted to practice in New York in 1980.

John M. Nonna is a partner in the New York office of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP and co-chair of the firm’s Insurance/Reinsurance Dispute Resolution Practice Group and a member of the firm’s International Arbitration and Cross-Border Dispute Resolution Practice Group. Mr. Nonna practices in the areas of commercial litigation and arbitration, including insurance and reinsurance disputes. He has tried and arbitrated cases involving accountants’ malpractice, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, breaches of warranties and representations, employment discrimination, distributorship agreements, stock and asset purchase agreements, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and insurance and reinsurance disputes. He has handled several of the largest reinsurance arbitrations in the industry and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial lawyers.

 

Faculty of presenters

Rod Attride-Stirling is Senior Partner of Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki in Bermuda. He specializes in complex civil litigation, corporate and commercial arbitration, insurance and reinsurance. Rod is listed in the Euromoney Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers. He is a member of the Insurance Advisory Committee, the US/Bermuda Tax Convention Advisory Committee, the International Business Forum (all three are Bermuda Government advisory bodies), Bermuda Bar Council (President) and Chairman of the Mental Health Tribunal (Bermuda). He is a Board Member of AIDA (US) (Association Internationale de Droit des assurances).

Paul Dassenko is a founding Member of ReMedi (the leading insurance and reinsurance mediation association) as well as being a founding Member of the American Board of Neutrals Association (ABNA). In addition to his active mediation practice, Paul is an ARIAS-U.S. Certified Arbitrator and Umpire, having served in over 200 arbitrations in the U.S., the U.K. and Bermuda. Paul’s background as a commercial insurance underwriter, a reinsurance underwriter -both fac and treaty, a reinsurance intermediary and a Chief Executive in both insurance and reinsurance companies affords him an understanding of the business imperatives present in today’s complex disputes. This business foundation coupled with his negotiating experience in hundreds of commutations involving multiple billions of dollars, give added depth to his work as a mediator.

Peter Dunlop is Counsel to Attride-Stirling & Woloniecki in Bermuda where he specializes in insurance/reinsurance litigation and arbitration funds litigation, corporate litigation, commercial and fraud litigation and insolvency. Prior to joining ASW in July 2007, Peter worked at Lovells LLP in London where he specialized in insurance and reinsurance law. During his 9 years in London, Peter represented claimants and defendances based in the UK (Lloyds and company markets), US, France, Australia and Hong Kong of insurance disputes arising from pensions mis-selling, professional indemnity claims and funds mis-selling (D&O & E&O) and international reinsurance disputes arising from subrogated recover actions, US pollution & asbestos, aviation and pharmaceutical products. Peter also has experience of finite reinsurance and regulatory investigations and spent a 6 months Secondment with Gen Re in 2005.

Robert H. Easton is Deputy General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Risk Manager of Integro Insurance Brokers, an insurance intermediary with offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Bermuda. Robert joined Integro after a decade of public service. From 2007 to 2010, he served as Deputy Superintendent and General Counsel at the New York Insurance Department, where, in his capacity as chief legal officer, he oversaw policy initiatives, the preparation of legal opinions, the promulgation of regulations and industry advisories, and all litigation involving the agency. Prior to his tenure at the Department, Robert was Deputy Solicitor General in the Division of Appeals and Opinions at the New York State Attorney General’s Office. In addition to managing the Division’s New York City office, he supervised and reviewed all aspects of appellate litigation in federal and state courts in suits brought by and against the State of New York. Robert began his legal career as a commercial litigator at the New York office of Sidley & Austin, and a law clerk to the Honorable B. Avant Edenfield, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

Daniel FitzMaurice is Partner at Day Pitney LLP. He represents clients in trials, arbitrations, and appeals of complex commercial disputes. He handles a wide variety of matters with an emphasis on insurance and reinsurance, and corporate, banking, franchise, and financial transactions. He is a member of the Board of Directors of ARIAS-US and speaks frequently on issues relating to reinsurance, financial services, and trial practice. Dan represents clients in the United States and Internationally. He has tried numerous cases and arbitrations in state and federal courts across the United States. He has also handled appeals in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Ninth, and District of Colombia Circuits, as well as the Connecticut Supreme Court. In addition, Dan has represented parties in administrative matters including proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the US Department of Labor, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and numerous Connecticut administrative agencies, including the Department of Insurance, the Department of Banking, Department of Public Health, the Consumer Protection Department, and the Office of the Attorney General.

Arthur Gang has worked at Partner Reinsurance Company of the U.S. in Greenwich,
Connecticut since 2001. His current title is Senior Vice President & Associate General Counsel. Prior to PartnerRe, he held claims and legal positions at General Reinsurance Company and National Reinsurance Company, both in Stamford, CT. He- was also a litigation partner at the New York City law firm of Hart & Hume. He holds a B.A. with Honors in English from New York University and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School. He is a member of the New York State Bar and a Certified In House Counsel in the State of Connecticut.

Narinder Hargun is a Director and head of litigation at Conyers Dill & Pearman in Bermuda. For the last 20 years, he has practiced all aspects of commercial litigation and arbitration in Bermuda focusing, in particular, on company, commercial and reinsurance disputes. He has been involved in most of the significant commercial cases before the Bermuda Courts in the last 20 years. Narinder read law at the London School of Economics and Political Science at the University of London (LLM), and was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1977, Bermuda in 1981, and the British Virgin Islands in 1997. He is co-contributor of the Bermuda sections of the Encyclopedia of International Commercial Litigation, Enforcement of Money Judgments Abroad and The International Handbook on Commercial Arbitration.

Kevin Lazarus is a solicitor in the legal and compliance team at Lloyd’s advising the corporation. Before joining Lloyd’s Legal in 2006 he was a solicitor in private practice including at Barlow Lyde & Gilbert where he specialized in reinsurance litigation. While at BLG, Kevin contributed to Reinsurance Practice and the Law, and he assisted with the current chapter on Lloyd’s. He is a contributing lecturer at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, University of London on the subject of insurance law and regulation.

Robert Merkin is a Professor of Commercial Law at Southampton University and a consultant at Barlow Lyde & Gilbert. He has written many books on a variety of subjects but is best know for his books and articles on insurance, reinsurance and related matters. His works include Butler and Merkin on Reinsurance Law (which won the inaugural British Insurance Law Association price in 1986), Colinvaux and Merkin’s Insurance Contract Law, The Law of Motor Insurance (with Jeremy S tuart-Smith QC) and Arbitrtion Law. Professor Merkin is a member of the presidential council of AIDA and serves as secretary to the AIDA reinsurance working party. He is a past member of the Law Society’s Insurance Law sub-committee and of the executive committee of the British Insurance Law Association.

Myra E. Lobel is a Managing Director in the contracts area of Guy Carpenter & Company, a leading reinsurance intermediary. In this capacity she is responsible for contract negotiations as well as developing innovative reinsurance and insurance contract wording to address emerging issues, including dispute resolutions concerns. Ms Lobel provides opinions on insurance regulatory matters, and also provides expertise in drafting specialized agreements such as trusts and structured agreements accessing capital for the property and casualty insurance industry. In addition, she monitors a spectrum of industry issues and develops strategies for clients facing issues such as collateralization/security concerns and terrorism exposure. She also serves as a consultant on claims and coverage disputes.

Anthony Menzies is a Partner in the Commercial Disputes practice group of Taylor Wessing in London and a member of the firm’s insurance group. He advises on direct and reinsurance claims and coverage disputes, often with an international element, particularly involving insureds, insurers or reinsurers in the US, Bermuda and the Caribbean. He has previously practiced in the Cayman Islands. He has advised numerous participants in the international insurance and reinsurance markets on disputes concerning D&O and E&O, property insurance and business interruption. Anthony also has wide experience of advising on disputed claims in respect of political risk and marine and energy insurance, both at the primary and reinsurance level. Anthony has acted in some of the highest profile disputes in the insurance market in recent years, as well as numerous claims conducted by way of confidential arbitration. He also advises on the drafting of policy wordings and on settlements and commutations. Anthony is a regular speaker at international insurance and reinsurance conferences and seminars particularly in London and Bermuda.

Nick Miles is Special Counsel, Bermuda to Sedwick. He is a commercial lawyer specializing in a broad range of contentious matters, reorganizations and regulatory matters. He advises clients on corporate and commercial matters, including: directors’ powers/duties and shareholder disputes, Bermuda segregated accounts companies, corporate insolvency, winding-up and dissolution of companies schemes of arrangements. He also represents insurers in complex, multi-jurisdictional litigation and arbitration, often concerning captive structures, alternative risk transfer products, and long-tail exposure such as asbestos pollution and health risks. He has handled arbitration proceedings on behalf of monoline insurers relating to ISDA credit default swaps. He advises clients on a range of commercial matters as well. He has drafted and structured captive programmes, loss portfolio transfers, finite insurance and reinsurance programmes, credit ‘wrap’ policies, arranged security over captive assets, and advised on life settlements business.

Carol Ann O’Dea is Senior Vice President and Claims Manager for PartnerRe U.S. She has been with PartnerRe since August of 2001 and has over 20 years of insurance and law experience having worked in private practice representing insurance companies and later as a Claims Attorney with Executive Risk Management Associates. Carole has been working exclusively in the reinsurance industry for the last 13 years, before joining PartnerRe five years ago, she was with XL Reinsurance America. As Claims Manager for PartnerRe, she is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the PartnerRe Claims Department.

Harry Tipper, III currently serves as an ARIAS-certified arbitrator and an expert witness in reinsurance litigation and arbitration and as a Director of Nepenthe Investment Company, Ltd. a boutique consultancy focused on merger and acquisition opportunities with the international insurance community and on the trading of non-exchange traded commodities and financial instruments. He, formerly, was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Lyon’s Gate Reinsurance Company, Ltd. (“Lyon’s Gate Re”) a Class III, Bermuda reinsurance company licensed under the Act and the Segregated Accounts Act to offer segregated account (or rent-a-captive) cells.

Richard M. Appel is a Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Endurance Reinsurance Corporation of America (ERCA). He has over 15 years experience as an attorney specializing in reinsurance and insurance matters. Prior to joining ERCA, Richard was Special Counsel at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP where he handled numerous reinsurance arbitrations and litigations, as well as a variety of direct insurance coverage disputes and disputes between insurance companies and their agents. Prior to that he was a reinsurance and insurance attorney at Rosenman & Colin LLP and Chadbourne & Parke, LLP.

Deirdre Johnson is a partner in the Washington DC office of Crowell & Moring LLP. She has nearly two decades of experience handling disputes in the US, Bermuda, London and European markets in lawsuits and arbitration proceedings arising out of a broad range of claims and virtually all types of insurance and reinsurance agreements. For example Dierdre has represented insurers and reinsurers in coverage disputes involving variable annuity, general liability, surety, product liability, employment discrimination and environmental matters. She has handled dozens of reinsurance arbitrations in both domestic and international proceedings,
including many Bermuda and London arbitrations.

The Fairmont Hamilton Princess

Hamilton, HM CX Bermuda
Tel: +1 441 295 3000 • Fax +1 441 295 2616
Web: Fairmont Hamilton Princess

Among the hibiscus and oleander, on the shores of a picturesque natural harbor, The Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel, is an elegant tribute to the old world splendor that is Bermuda. Take a dip in your choice of fresh or saltwater pool or catch the complimentary ferry over to our private Fairmont Beach Club in Southampton.

Accommodation

Falconbury have arranged a preferential rate with the Fairmont Hamilton Princess. In order to take advantage of this please contact the Fairmont Hamilton Princess on +1 441 295 3000, quoting Falconbury and the Reinsurance Contract Wordings and Disputes conference at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.

Past delegates’ comments

Some of the comments received by participants on this course:

“Speakers were very confident and knowledgeable”

Simon Pond, Enstar EU Ltd

“Excellent level of detail, v. Knowledgeable presenters, good documentation”

Christina Ouerfelli, Partner Reinsurance Europe Ltd

Main sponsor and advisor

Dewey & LeBoeuf is a full-service law firm providing counsel throughout the Americas, Europe, Russia/CIS, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. With more than 1,200 lawyers in major financial and commercial centers, the firm represents national and global corporations, financial institutions and government agencies in their most complex legal matters. Dewey & LeBoeuf is known for its preeminence in the insurance and reinsurance industry. The firm has distinguished itself through market-leading practice groups in areas such as mergers and acquisitions, complex litigation, intellectual property litigation, white collar and government investigations, international trade, capital markets, structured finance and private equity and tax. The firm has been named “Best Law Firm” for eight consecutive years by the readers of Reactions magazine, as well as “No. 1 in Insurance Transactional and Regulatory in New York” by Chambers USA for the past five years.

For additional information, please visit www.dl.com.

 

Media Partner

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Client portfolio

Our client portfolio for this course includes the following companies:

Aegis Insurance Service Inc	Hiscox Insurance Company (Bermuda) Ltd	REcentis Intermediaries, LLC
Allied World Assurance Company Ltd	Horseshoe Insurance Advisors US, LLC	Renaissance Reinsurance
Amlin Bermuda Ltd	Ironshore Insurance Ltd	The Bank of Bermuda Ltd
Ariel Holdings Ltd	MS Frontier Re	Trott & Duncan
Conyers Dill & Pearman	Montpelier Re	Validus Holdings Ltd
Conyers Dill & Pearman BVI	Montpelier Underwriting Services Ltd	Veris Consulting LLC
Harbor Point Re Ltd	Platinum Underwriters Holdings Ltd	XL Re Ltd

Sponsorship opportunities

The Bermuda programme is still being developed and so this is an ideal time to be in at the start of this great opportunity to reach senior decision makers within the international reinsurance industry.

The sponsorship packages we have available are exclusive, flexible and supported by a global direct marketing campaign in print and on-line.

To find out more view our sponsorship page

Ehi Alonge

Sponsorship and Partnerships Manager
Tel: +44 (0)20 7729 6677
For more information contact us now.