Title Insurance Defense Litigation Agency Head
Salary 60-250K+
Location SWUK, Cornwall & Devon.
Job Information

Partner/Head of Insurance Defence Litigation:  Top Financial Package Including Equity Option;

Manager, Insurance Defence Litigation; 60-120K;

Ideal for a relocator;

Applications welcomed nationwide.

Our client a leading South West law firm have retained our search firm to short-list five senior executives for the above exciting new boutique law firm business which will be established and based in Cornwall.  This will create many new local dynamic and sought after jobs in the legal profession. Not only are we seeking to find the two top key executives that will have thorough experience in all types of insurance defence litigationwork.  We are seeking to find six/seven lawyers that have 2-10 PQE and experience in both civil and commercial work practice. Our senior and head of the new business will have spent many years working in this specialist law agency business sector and have the contacts situated in all the right active insurance companies.  Our senior candidate Partner client will have had thorough experience in negotiating deals, pricing and structuring bid tenders, which includes the following transactional knowledge;

Facilitate the bid for new business propositions from start to finish.  Oversee the creation of pre-sales documentation and all presentations for potential new insurance and commercial customers.  Produce the tendering plans and establish the tendering team, which will includes representation from the firms’ financial, legal, sales and procurement specialists. You will precisely estimate project costs and track completion of all written assignments. Organize bid distribution logistics, including the management approval process from the firms’ Managing Partner. You will be prime Director that will oversee the proposal development process from start to finish and will ensure that high-quality successful bids are executed when appropriate. We will be looking for a prominent track record in business development and you should produce documentation evidence of this vital and important function.

The new Insurance Litigation Defence Agencies work involves:

An Insurance defence agency faces unique challenges that are quite different than those faced by other law firm litigation activities. Unlike corporate litigation firms, insurance lawyers must strike a balance between their duty to the insured and the insurance company. A three-sided relationship exists. Who is the client? While the insurance company pays the legal bills the lawyer has an independent professional responsibility to the policyholder. Often the interests of the insurance company and the policyholder are at odds and the lawyer is caught in the middle of a conflict situation. It is interesting to note that while insurance companies retain discounted services from insurance defence law firms for their policyholders, they retain different law firms charging premium billing rates for their representation when they themselves are involved in litigation. Typically silk stocking corporate litigation firms are used for this work.

Insurance litigation is a branch of civil law that involves the legal proceedings and disposition of insurance-related matters. Insurance litigation is primarily composed of disputes between insurers and policy holders, and in that capacity, encompasses everything from asbestos litigation to discrimination in the workplace. Insurance litigation is one of the largest areas of civil practice not only in the Europe and the U.S., but across the globe, and it continues to grow every year. Insurance defense firms primarily focus on defending insurers through indemnification, such as when a policy holder causes a motor vehicle accident. Insurance defense also covers disputes over liability and obligations, such as when an insured party files a claim for an incident not covered under the policy. Insurance defense covers a wide area of practice; just about any area that offers civil liability insurance is covered under insurance defense.

Indemnification is the transfer of liability from one party to another. When a driver causes a car accident, for example, he transfers his liability for the monetary damages he has caused to his insurance company. The insurer then contracts with an insurance defense attorney, who represents the driver at the insurance company’s expense. In exchange for indemnification, the driver pays the insurance company a regular premium to help offset the cost of his claim

A coverage dispute is an argument over what an insurance policy actually covers. This can happen when an insured party files a claim for an incident that is not explicitly covered by the policy, when there is a conflict over the verbiage of the policy, when the insured has exceeded his policy limits or when an insured files a claim for an incident that is explicitly excluded from coverage. Less often, coverage disputes may arise from disagreements over which insurer is liable in a primary/secondary insurance scheme, when there has been a lapse in coverage due to a clerical error on the insurer’s part or when the insurer believes there is fraud or exaggeration on the insured’s part.

Insurance litigation defense encompasses many different forms of civil liability, and thus offers a number of practice areas. The most common areas include auto accidents, homeowners insurance, workers’ compensation and personal injury cases (such as slip-and-falls, defamation and mold exposure). Other practice areas include asbestos (mesothelioma) litigation, medical and professional malpractice, labor and employment, admiralty, environmental, governmental, toxic torts, product liability and professional negligence.

Despite the name, insurance litigation defense entails very little litigation. The primary goal of insurance defense is to settle every claim before the matter reaches the courthouse. Litigation is a very long and expensive process, sometimes lasting as long as 10 or 15 years before reaching a resolution, and insurance companies need to keep their overhead low to afford the claims they receive throughout the year. Because of this, insurance defense litigation focuses on settling claims whenever possible for as little as possible. An exceptional defense litigation attorney may actually appear in court only a handful of times throughout his or her career.

Our client’s new insurance litigation defence agency will provide comprehensive legal representation to their insurance industry clients covering hopefully a broad spectrum of business areas, including insurance defence litigation in the fields of:

  • Medical malpractice;
  • Professional malpractice;
  • Admiralty;
  • Insurance liability;
  • Products liability;
  • Auto accidents;
  • Transportation and logistics accidents;
  • Automobile negligence;
  • Environmental;
  • Employment;
  • Home owners insurance:
  • Governmental:
  • Toxic torts:
  • Premises and commercial liability, and workers’ compensation;
  • Personal Injury;
  • Breach of fiduciary duty;
  • Construction negligence;
  • Professional negligence:
  • Construction defects;
  • Breach of contract;
  • Injunction;
  • Declaratory judgments;
  • Breach of warranty;
  • In addition, our client firms’ lawyers represent insurance clients regarding “bad faith,” coverage and anti-trust issues.

 

This is an exciting new business that will create career opportunities for both lawyers and support administrators.  If you are one of our key executives, please forward your CV to Jonny Scott-Slater or Ashley Armstrong.

Mail 2 – cornishexecutive@aol.com

Telephone 01872 274227.

Confidentiality will be assured at all times.

Cornwall Executive Recruitment Ltd – An employment agency for job vacancies, personnel services and staffing solutions – 01872 274 277.