Insurance Law & Claims Consulting Practices

The Insurance Law and Claims Consulting Practices at PF+C provide our insurance industry clients with an innovative and adaptive service platform to meet a variety of needs.

The Insurance Law Practice

We serve the insurance, reinsurance and alternative risk sectors of the industry, applying detailed knowledge of the London, Bermuda and U.S. markets. We specialize in providing "bespoke" services for insurance clients with particularized needs across a variety of coverages, including property and casualty, environmental, energy, professional and other specialty lines.   We add leverage and value through a broad array of senior contacts in the industry, including underwriters, brokers, claim managers, adjusters and investigators. Our approach is pragmatic and we make it a point to know our clients’ needs.

Our services include:

• Protecting insurers in individual coverage and bad faith claims, throughout the United States.
• National and regional coverage advice and litigation.
• Monitoring counsel for excess and open market insurers in high severity claims with a focus on energy and property losses.
• Defending insurers in multi-district complex litigation.
• Arbitration.
• Counseling insurers through regulatory inquiries.
• Policy drafting and restructuring.
• Reinsurance recoveries in both a facultative and commutation settings.
• Special projects, including evaluating changes in industry standards, developing comprehensive claims handling practices, training nation-wide adjusting forces on specific claim trends/issues and delicate internal investigations. 

The Claims Consulting Practice

We provide sophisticated audit and management services. Depending on the client’s need or preference, these services are delivered through the law firm or through our wholly owned limited liability company, PF+C Insurance Services. Our consulting team includes insurance lawyers and professionals recruited from inside the industry, working together to provide our clients uniquely qualified perspectives and assistance.

Audits

The Consulting Practice regularly audits claim handling best practices and reserve adequacy of TPAs, insurers and underwriting agents for a variety of insurance and reinsurance clients in the London, Bermuda and U.S. markets. On a selective basis we also perform underwriting audits. Our audit experience extends throughout the United States, and into Canada, the Bahamas/Caribbean and the United Kingdom. We are also experienced auditing in situations where a client suspects its interests may be jeopardized.

Claims Management

We provide claim management services, both on a portfolio and individual loss basis. Our portfolio claim management focuses on the captive and alternative risk sectors, for whom we manage a range of professional and general liability claims arising across the globe. In the area of individual loss consulting, we only handle high severity claims, acting as either an outsource function or in a hybrid monitoring counsel/claim handler role as necessary. Our experience in this role also extends to claims located around the globe. We are highly cost effective, and augment the client’s claims staff with specialist skills when needed on particular claims allowing them to maintain standards on their other claims.

Our claim management service utilizes a qualified panel of local assets to assist us wherever the claim is located, including adjusters, lawyers, investigators and facilitators.

THE TEAM

Matthew E.C. Pifer, Group Practice Leader
Nolan C. Burkhouse, Practice Manager, Insurance Law Practice
John H. Draper, Senior Auditor, Claims Consulting Practice
Deborah A. Barlow, AIC, Claims Manager, Claims Consulting Practice
Matthew A. Ferrigno, Esq.
David M. Kennedy, Esq.
William D. Riley, Esq.
Stephen J. Soule, Esq.
Heather A. Moreau, Senior Paralegal/Litigation Technology Coordinator
Kimberly A. Jillson, Claims Paralegal

For more information on PF+C Insurance Services, please visit: www.PFC-IS.com.