| Biography:
Steven Gilford is a partner in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department and is resident in the Chicago office of Proskauer Rose LLP.
Steven has significant experience in the area of insurance/reinsurance. He represents clients in commercial and class action suits and advises parties engaged in mediations, arbitrations, and alternative dispute resolutions.
Additionally, Steven handles outsourcing and technology contract restructurings and disputes and counsels parties engaged in US and international insurance and reinsurance coverage actions and arbitrations, insurance-related regulatory controversies, and insolvencies. Clients also seek his advice concerning media representation. Steven provides knowledgeable representation, as well, regarding RICO-related actions, attorney fee issues, insurance defense and coordination needs, and restrictive covenant disputes.
Steven is ranked as a leading insurance/ reinsurance litigator by professional directories such as; Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, and the Guide to World’s Leading Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers. According to Chambers USA clients and peers recognize Steven for his “great strategic acumen.” He is “the person to go to when you have a large conceptual problem to get around.” In Chambers 2007 he is described as having a “remarkable ability to focus on the points that really matter [and his] ability to talk to both sides in a clear and down-to-earth manner.” In Chambers USA 2008, he is described as, “a great leader of his team, a wonderful strategist and a terrific counselor.”
Recent class action representations have included:
• Owner of an off-shore insurance subsidiary sued for RICO and securities fraud.
• Electric utility sued for improper overcharges.
• Securities claims against bank officers and directors arising out of the collapse of Penn Square banks.
• Bank and bank holding company sued in connection with marketing of financial products.
Recent commercial representations have included:
• International dispute concerning a satellite construction contact.
• Disputes and restructuring of technology outsourcing agreements for a major chemical company, leading air conditioner manufacturer, and international publishing company.
• Insurance broker covenant not-compete claims.
• Claim against US government for environmental contamination.
Recent major insurance representations have included:
• Bankrupt asbestos manufacturer, major railroad, and chemical and pipe manufacturers in hundred-million-dollar actions against numerous insurers seeking coverage for asbestos, products, environmental and other claims.
• Owners of manufacturing plants damaged by hurricanes.
• Reinsurer in a $100 million RICO action brought by the liquidator of an insolvent Illinois insurer against a reinsurer, officers, directors and accountants.
• Corporate parent of an insolvent off-shore insurance company in a $500 million RICO and “piercing the corporate veil” litigation.
• Excess insurer in coverage disputes arising from collapse of skywalks at Kansas City Hyatt.
• D&O insurer of Drexel Burnham.
Publications
"Importance of Practice Counseling" in Alternative Dispute Resolution, Settlements and Negotiations, (2006); "Avoiding Post-Transaction Blues," Risk & Insurance, (11/06); "After TRIA Goes Away," Bests Review, (12/04); "Insurance Coverage Actions: Who, Where, and When to Sue," The Brief, ABA Tort & Insurance Practice Section, Vol. 26, No. 1, Fall 1996; "Choice of Law and Forum Selection: Why Are They So Important," Young Lawyers Section of the Chicago Bar Association, CBA Meeting, (11/95); "Prior Attention to Arbitration Clauses Help Ensure Fairness," Legal Update, The Review Worldwide Reinsurance, (03/95); "Alternatives to Insurance Liquidation: A US Perspective," 7th International Reinsurance Congress, (10/03); "The Responsibilities and Liabilities of Accountants and Actuaries to Life Insurers and in Life Insurance Insolvencies," ABA National Institute on Life Insurer Insolvency, (06/93); "Evaluating GIC Investments as a Plan Fiduciary," WEB — Chicago, (1992);"Recovery from Officers, Directors, Accountants, Actuaries and Others: Some Thoughts on Whether to File," NAIC Workshop, Rehabilitators and Liquidators Task Force, (1992); "Directors' and Officers' Insurance Coverage in the Wake of the American Savings & Loan Crisis," Hawksmere/Coopers & Lybrand Reinsurance Congress, (1991); "Suits Against State Insurance Commissioners for Misconduct in the Regulation and Liquidation of Insurance Companies,"; ABA National Institute on Insurance Company Insolvency, (1986).
Steven earned his A.B. summa cum laude from Dartmouth College and his J.D., Order of the Coif., from Duke University School of Law, where he served as Administrative Law Editor and Member of the Editorial Board.
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