Kennedys adds two US Partners to insurance coverage team

Global law firm Kennedys continues its US expansion with the addition of two new partners to its insurance coverage practice group. Laura B Dowgin is returning to the firm’s New York office,  and Terri A Sutton joins our west coast team and will be working out of Seattle.

Laura Dowgin returns to Kennedys as a partner in the New York office and represents insurers in complex coverage disputes arising out of general liability policies, excess/umbrella policies, commercial property policies, professional liability policies, errors and omissions policies and directors and officers liability policies. She has extensive experience in additional insured issues, multi-national programs, long tail exposure allocation and coverage issues arising from New York Labor Law.

Additionally, Laura advises clients on  policy drafting and regularly presents claims education training courses to clients at seminars and in-house programs on various topics including policy construction, coverage analysis strategies, claims handling and negotiations.

Terri Sutton enhances our west coast presence with over a decade of experience advising insurers across a wide range of coverage issues and litigating complex coverage matters involving professional, pollution, medical malpractice and excess/umbrella policies, treaty and facultative reinsurance, and directors and officers and employment practices liability coverages, and bad faith.

Terri has experience in all phases of litigation, from mediation to trial and appellate work as well as extensive underwriting experience, having held positions at Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, Western States Insurance and the Montana State Fund.

Meg Catalano, US managing partner says: “The addition of Terri and Laura further strengthens our nationwide coverage and litigation practice from coast to coast, which allows us to provide unrivalled depth in all key markets.”

Christopher Carroll, Kennedys US senior partner, adds: “Laura and Terri bring added depth to the team and valuable broad-based experience that will greatly benefit our clients and strengthen our existing capabilities. We are thrilled to have Laura back. Terri being based in the northwest adds to Kennedys’ reach and enhances the platform from which we can serve our clients.”

Laura added: “Kennedys is one of the leading players in the US insurance market and I am  excited to return to a strong global infrastructure that provides clients with greater access to services across the world.”

Terri added: “I am excited to bring my broad-based insurance industry experience to Kennedys’ growing, well-respected team and rejoin my colleagues Mike Melendez, Teri Mae Rutledge, Sam Stalker and Amber Coisman.”

In the last two years Kennedys has significantly strengthened its US insurance practice and global offerings through a number of prominent lateral hires, which last year led to a 13% increase in headcount across its offices in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Delaware, Houston, and Miami. The firm now has  close to 200 attorneys across 10 offices in the US, and over 2,500 people across 76 offices and operations worldwide.

Terri and Laura bring the total of new lateral joiners this year to over 10 following the additions of Sam Stalker and Amber Coisman to the firm’s Chicago office,  Blaise Chow, Andres Avila, and Martin West to the New York office, Mike Melendez, Teri Mae Rutledge, and Eryk Gettell to the San Francisco office, Alex Fumagali to the Miami office.