Seeking current or recent associates of color at insurance defense firms to speak at a Boston Bar Association panel on diversity

 

I am working with attorney Garrett Lee to put together a panel on diversity at insurance defense firms for the Boston Bar Association.  We have partners with hiring responsibility from three major insurance defense firms who will be speaking about what they look for when hiring young associates, and what they look for in retaining and promoting such associates.  How can young attorneys and law students who do not currently have any connections at a firm get their foot in the door?  

We would like to round out the panel with current or recent associates of color who will speak about their experience through the hiring process and working at insurance defense firms.  

Garrett is currently a council member (sort of like the board of directors) of the Boston Bar Association.  Previously he was co-chair of the BBA's insurance and tort litigation section, where I continue to serve as co-chair of the insurance subcommittee. 

The impetus for this program is Garrett’s and my belief that insurance defense work is the best way to learn civil litigation – and our frustration, as we have put together various panels for the BBA in the past few years (such as my upcoming panel on Condominium Insurance Law), on the difficulties in finding speakers of color for such panels.  We hope this program will bring awareness to law students and new attorneys of color who might not otherwise apply to these firms, and also create connections for such candidates interested in working at them.  

If you are a current or recent associate of color at an insurance defense firm and have a potential interest in speaking on the panel about your experiences, please reach out to me at nkallen@kallenlawyer.com.  Or, if you know someone who might be interested, please consider sending them my way. 

Representing an insurance company does not make you a bad person

In the Massachusetts Senate race between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren, Brown has attacked Warren for representing Travelers Insurance in asbestos litigation.  Warren has responded with ads in which family-members of people who died from asbestos-related illnesses defend her, asserting that she fought to increase and protect settlement money available to the victims and their families.

What if that wasn't Warren's role?  What if she had been hired to simply defend Travelers from asbestos claims, to argue that the claims were excluded by the policies,  or that the insured was not liable?  Would that mean she is in the pocket of corporations and therefore should not be elected as a Democrat?

Without going into a Democrat/Republican/all politicians are sellouts tirade, no.  I spend the first six years of my legal career as an insurance defense attorney, and I still represent insurers both directly and indirectly through subcontract work.  There have been times when, given my personal views, I felt somewhat uncomfortable with the cases I was given.  A low point came when I represented as insurance defense counsel a used car dealer that was being sued for allegedly charging customers illegal fees.   I've represented insured defendants who discovery showed were clearly liable. 

In all of my cases, no matter which side I'm on, I zealously represent my clients.  Sometimes zealous representation means advising the insurer to settle.  Sometimes it means advising the insurer not to settle even though liability is clear, because the plaintiff is asking too much in damages. 

There are plaintiffs attorneys who are incompetent and don't give their clients good advice about a case, and there are insurance defense attorneys who are incompetent and don't give their clients good advice about a case.  In my experience, those attorneys are relatively rare.  Competent representation -- an ability to analyze the law, the facts, and the risks -- on both sides leads to fair outcomes. 

I don't know enough about Warren's role in the asbestos litigation to judge it.  But I do know that the mere fact that she represented an insurer in asbestos litigation does not, in and of itself, tell us anything about her character or her worthiness to hold office.