Morgan Lewis's Insurance Transactions Practice is based in New York, Philadelphia, the District of Columbia and Los Angeles, and has advised the insurance and insurance-related industries for more than 25 years. Our insurance attorneys work closely with both foreign and domestic property/casualty and life insurers, underwriters, agents, brokers and other participants in the insurance and insurance-related industries on a wide range of transactions and issues affecting their operations.
The Insurance Transactions Practice brings together attorneys with deep insurance-related knowledge from multiple practices into a single group, with capabilities in all aspects of life, health, and property-casualty matters. In providing representation, we draw upon the full range of experience at the firm, involving attorneys from many practice areas including insurance regulatory, securities, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions and tax.
The Insurance Transactions Practice regularly handles the following matters:
- Plan, negotiate and document mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, management buy-outs and joint ventures of insurance and reinsurance companies of varying sizes, and their agents, brokers and intermediaries, with particular emphasis on limiting exposure for development of costly, long-tail loss events and other prior liabilities.
- Represent private and governmental parties in insurer insolvency proceedings.
- Handle insurer rate-making proceedings.
- Counsel insurers and large commercial insureds on COLI projects, variable annuity and variable life separate account products, ERISA self-funded and partly insured health benefit plans, and other varied specialty coverages and products.
- Counsel insurers, third-party administrators and other health insurance industry members on the development of managed care provider arrangements.
- Structure, negotiate and document capital raising activities, both directly in the public and private markets and through the use of reinsurance.
- Advise insurers, reinsurers and their agents, brokers and intermediaries on insurance regulatory matters, including change of control regulation and licensing, holding company system, investment and reporting issues.
- Assist clients in new product development and on policy and treaty design matters, including non-traditional insurance and reinsurance products.
- Structure and document domestic and off-shore funds organized to provide financing to, and make investments in, insurance companies and companies providing service to the insurance industry.
- Represent insurance clients in arbitrations and litigation concerning the placement and terms and conditions of insurance and reinsurance, and in administrative matters before regulatory agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and various state insurance departments.
- Advise clients on demutualizations and other conversions of insurers and not-for-profit entities such as Blue Cross-Blue Shield.
- Assist clients in the formation of captives, reciprocals and other alternative risk management structures.
- Advise clients on finite risk and other transactions involving a combination of insurance and capital market products.
Clients served by the practice include reinsurers, insurers, brokers, intermediaries, investment advisors, as well as funds investing primarily in insurance related entities. We also represent Insurance Departments on particular matters and serve as Washington Counsel to the Financial Institutions Insurance Association.