Chinese Drywall Insurance Conference: The Financial Impact of Drywall-Related Losses – Insurance and Other Strategic Considerations Speaker Profiles
Allison Grant, Shapiro, Blasi, Wasserman & Gora, P.A., Boca Raton, FL
Andrea B. Tecce, Navigant Consulting, Washington, D.C.
Barry I. Buchman, Gilbert LLP, Show/Hide Bio
rejoined the partnership of Gilbert LLP in August 2009, to reunite with attorneys with whom he has practiced for most of his career. Mr. Buchman specializes in complex civil litigation and dispute resolution, focusing primarily on the representation of policyholders in insurance coverage disputes. He handles a variety of complex insurance recovery matters, including disputes over coverage for a wide range of toxic tort claims, disputes over errors and omissions coverage, and disputes over coverage for “first party†losses, such as credit and residual value losses on leased and financed assets.
He has litigated cases both in federal and state trial and appellate courts, and in the context of private arbitration. He also regularly publishes and speaks on insurance coverage issues. In addition to his insurance coverage practice, Mr. Buchman also handles complex commercial disputes. Before rejoining Gilbert LLP, Mr. Buchman practiced at Dickstein Shapiro LLP.
Charles E. Stauber, Stauber Associates LLC, Blue Bell, PA
Charles W. Browning, Plunkett Cooney, Bloomfield Hills, MI
David J. Woll, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, New York
Frank Winston Jr. , Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Washington, D.C.
Hilarie Bass, Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Miami, FL
John E. Heintz , Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, Washington, D.C
Kali N. Bracey, Jenner & Block LLP, Washington, D.C.
Lee H. Ogburn, Kramon & Graham, PA, Baltimore, MD
Leon Kellner, Dickstein Shapiro, Show/Hide Bio
joined Dickstein Shapiro in 1996 and is a member of the Insurance Coverage Practice Group. Mr. Kellner focuses on insurance coverage litigation on behalf of policyholders and has represented Fortune 1000 companies in connection with asbestos, lead, benzene and environmental matters. He currently represents the TVA in connection with insurance for the Tennessee fly ash incident. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Kellner was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
Liberman & McKee, Liberman & McKee, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Lori A. Streit, Ph.D., Unified Engineering Inc., Aurora, IL
Mark A. Boyle Sr., Boyle & Gentile, P.A., Fort Myers, FL
Mark E. Miller, Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Washington, D.C.
Martin M. McNerney , King & Spalding, Washington, D.C.
Mary Beth Forshaw, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, Show/Hide Bio
is a Partner in the Firm’s Litigation Department. She has extensive experience representing clients in general commercial litigation and arbitration, including in matters relating to bankruptcy, insurance coverage, reinsurance, international arbitration and the financial industry.
Ms. Forshaw’s recent experience includes representation of Hanwha Group and ORIX Corporation in a billion dollar ICC arbitration arising out of the sale of Korea Life Insurance Company, representation of a domestic insurer in a three-month trial before a New Jersey state court relating to allocation and settlement issues, and representation of a foreign insurer in a several-week arbitration concerning automobile residual value accounting issues. Ms. Forshaw also successfully represented a client in a multi-billion dollar arbitration in which her client was found to have no obligation to provide non-products coverage to an insulation installer. In addition to her trial and arbitration achievements, Ms. Forshaw recently obtained an award of summary judgment in her client’s favor on statute of limitations grounds in a lawsuit involving an automotive company’s claims for defense and indemnification for several decades of asbestos and environmental losses. She has also represented debtors and creditors in bankruptcy proceedings, including In re ACandS (297 B.R. 395), in which her client defeated confirmation of a Plan of Reorganization. She has acted as counsel to various banks and financial institutions in actions involving allegations of fraudulent conveyance and securities fraud. She has also represented ceding insurers in several precedent-setting cases involving reinsurance, including Cigna Re (52 F.2d 1994) and Unigard (79 N.Y.2d 576; 4 F.3d 1049).
Matthew J. Schlesinger, Reed Smith, Washington, D.C.
Michael J. Ryan, Krupnick, Campbell, Malone, Buser, Slama, Hancock, None
Ross Mishkin, The Claro Group, Chicago, IL
Scott J. Frank, Butler Pappas, Tampa, FL
Steve Rawls, Butler Pappas, Show/Hide Bio
is a partner with Butler Pappas. His practice involves third party general liability coverage matters throughout the United States, focusing upon construction defect, pollution, premises and products liability matters. His practice also includes representation of clients in bad faith matters and defense of his clients’ insureds in catastrophic injury case.
Mr. Rawls frequently speaks about issues related to his practice at client and industry seminars. Most recently, Mr Rawls moderated each of the MC2 Construction Defect Coverage Seminars held in Florida in 2007 and 2008. Mr. Rawls also spoke as a panelist at those seminars regarding the consequences of underinsuring developers in Florida, issues unique to high-rise litigation, and Florida coverage law. In 2009, Mr. Rawls will be speaking on risk transfer and additional insured issues in the East and Southeast. Mr. Rawls’ client seminars have addressed a wide range of construction defect coverage issues such as trigger, allocation and cessation of allocation, risk transfer and additional insured coverage issues. Mr. Rawls has also presented several client seminars regarding claims handling and bad faith settlement issues.