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We are delighted to announce that we are forming an association with Canada’s leading national insurance specialty law firm, Dolden Wallace Folick LLP. Kennedys shares a number of global, London Market and US-based clients with Dolden Wallace Folick and have worked with them on several matters.
Founded in Vancouver in 1994 as an insurance specialty firm, Dolden Wallace Folick has doubled in size over the last six years. The firm now has 135 people, including 20 partners, with offices also in Toronto, Calgary, and Kelowna providing it with national reach across the provinces.
Canada is a major insurance market for many of Kennedys’ global clients. In 2018 there were almost 200 private property and casualty insurers writing $60 billion in direct premiums and paying out $39 billion in claims. Toronto is a key insurance centre in Canada and Vancouver has emerged as an underwriting hub.
Through this association, not only can we now support clients across another major and growing insurance market, we do so with a trusted partner who also brings extremely strong connections with the London Market.
Nick Thomas, senior partner at Kennedys, says: “There is a very strong connection between our firms in terms of purpose, specialist focus and client base. It’s a very good fit. We recognise a great deal of ourselves in Dolden Wallace Folick so we are very pleased to be formalising our relationship.
“At Kennedys, our growth has, and will continue to be, predicated on client need. Through this association, not only can we now support clients across another major and growing insurance market, we do so with a trusted partner who also brings extremely strong connections with the London Market.”
Chris Carroll, US senior partner at Kennedys, adds: “Doldens has built an enviable reputation as Canada’s pre-eminent insurance specialty law firm across all lines of insurance, in particular property and casualty and in the growing area of cyber liability.
“Our practice areas are so well aligned and by working together we will be able to provide an even greater depth of service to our clients. We’ve already been speaking to some of our shared clients and they are extremely supportive of our relationship.”
Lorne Folick, one of the three co-founding partners and CFO of Dolden Wallace Folick, says: “Kennedys is a giant of the insurance law world and we are proud to say that there is a really strong affinity between our firms. We have a shared focus on the insurance market and creating this formal association enables us to provide an even stronger offering to our clients. Like Kennedys, we support our clients with coverage issues, policy drafting and the defence of claims for property and casualty, financial and professional risks, environmental, cyber and many other specialty lines.”
We have a shared focus on the insurance market and creating this formal association enables us to provide an even stronger offering to our clients.
The association with Doldens takes the number of Kennedys’ offices, associations or co-operations around the globe to 63.
This is Kennedys' first association with a Canadian firm and follows the successful US merger three years ago with Carroll McNulty & Kull (CMK). At the beginning of June, the firm announced it was opening a new office - its 39th – in San Francisco.
In February, we also launched a separate technology driven company, Kennedys IQ, whose purpose is to be “Kennedys, without the lawyers”. Combining human and machine intelligence, Kennedys IQ is focused on creating and developing innovative products and solutions which are targeted at the needs of insurer clients.
Find out more information in Dolden Wallace Folick's update below.
Insurance and reinsurance