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In this episode of “In the Know”, associate Daniel W. Borneman takes you
behind the scenes of his practice, representing policyholders and
helping clients recover what they’re owed under a wide variety
of commercial insurance policies. Danny shares why this work is
both challenging and rewarding, how junior attorneys get hands-on
litigation experience early, and what makes this practice area a
master class in contract litigation and negotiation.
Speaker:
Daniel W. Borneman,
Associate, Insurance Recovery Group
READ THE TRANSCRIPT
Daniel W. Borneman:Hello, I’m Danny
Borneman, an associate in Lowenstein’sInsurance Recovery Group.
Welcome to “In the Know.”
Today we are going to discuss what a day in the life of an
associate in the Insurance Recovery Group
looks like. Quick background: the group represents
policyholders—never insurers—seeking coverage under a
wide variety of commercial insurance policies. When non-lawyers ask
me what I do at work, I tell them that “I sue insurance
companies when they deny coverage”–which happens…a
lot. When lawyers ask what my practice is all about, I tell them
that we get insurance companies to pay our clients’
attorneys’ fees and settle cases or, as needed, to satisfy
judgments.
At its heart, Lowenstein’s Insurance Recovery Group is a
force that extracts money from insurance companies to pay two
groups that most business owners will have to pay at some point:
(1) people who sue them, and (2) lawyers. We pride ourselves on
holding the insurance industry to a high standard when it comes to
handling and adjusting claims. And when insurers start to fall
off-track on that front, we are not afraid to raise the prospect of
bad faith and the significant consequences that flow from an
insurer treating its policyholder unfairly.
Okay, a day in the life: there is no typical day. In the
morning, I might work on a dispute where I need to get deep into
the facts on a shareholder derivative class action to explain why
an insurer misinterpreted the same facts when denying coverage.
That afternoon, it will be a products liability case but instead I
am writing a motion for a summary judgment. Or the case could be a
cyber security breach. Or a criminal investigation. No two matters
are identical and that is one of the things I love best about this
practice area–I get to constantly learn about different areas
of the law while at the same time honing specialized knowledge in a
niche area.
Even better, the potential client pool for policyholder
insurance work is truly limitless because every company has a wide
array of insurance policies and the odds are high that when a claim
is made the client will have the need for our kind of legal
service.
Even as a junior attorney, I am getting tremendous and varied
experiences that every litigator strives for: court appearances,
discovery issues, dispute resolution, legal research and brief
writing, letter writing to avoid the courtroom altogether and, best
of all, developing strategies that impose maximum leverage to yield
practical and fair results for our clients.
Working as a junior in this group is like taking a master class
in contract litigation and the art of effective negotiation at the
settlement table. We deal with a lot of novel legal questions and
therefore spend a lot of time thinking about the policy language,
what it was intended to mean, and whether it might mean something
different.
There is a tremendous rush associated with being able to work on
complex matters while also serving in the role as a plaintiff’s
lawyer. Handing your client a large check at the conclusion of your
matter is truly rewarding.
Thank you for watching. We’ll see you next time on “In the Know”.
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