Litigation Attorney

Purpose and Importance of Position

This position reports to the Director, Litigation. This position requires an attorney experienced in complex, high exposure coverage litigation. The successful candidate will serve as a team leader for each dispute under their watch, managing outside counsel towards a resolution which takes into account the unique aspects of the dispute as well as the contractual requirements of the insurance or reinsurance policies at issue. To this end, and embedded within all aspects of this position, the successful candidate must exemplify the highest level of ethical behavior. The successful candidate will communicate effectively with all internal stakeholders on a variety of complex insurance coverage issues including but not limited to claims, reinsurance, finance, and executive leadership. The successful candidate will understand reinsurance and claims processes as well as internal legal processes. The successful candidate will demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement in policies and processes, innovation and a commitment to working as a team member within the unit as well as within the Company. Finally, the successful candidate will champion and exhibit the RiverStone commitments at all times and seek to continually improve themselves.

Essential Functions

Manages coverage cases with outside counsel as a collaborative, active partner in all aspects of litigation, arbitrations or other alternative dispute resolution proceedings. This includes review, revision and approval of all pleadings, motions, appeals, litigation plans and budgets.

Assesses and models coverage issues and potential exposure in complex insurance coverage matters by analyzing insurance policy provisions, applicable case law and potential underlying claim exposure.

Prepares discovery responses, company witnesses and trial strategy with outside counsel, including the design of mock jury exercises and work with jury consultants to test case themes and approach to trial.

Provides legal counsel to the company on a variety of issues, including coverage advice to the claims department, review of proposed settlement agreements and review of contracts.

Prepares cogent, high quality narrative reports for senior management setting forth application of underlying facts to the legal issues and contract provisions, the potential risks involved in a given matter, recommended strategy and the potential value.

Prepares reports as necessary for reinsurers and E&O insurers.

Assesses and recommends affirmative lawsuits or arbitrations.

Develops and manages case budgets and case plans.

Provides on-going training and support to in-house paralegals and training to associates in the company on various legal issues applicable to the business.

Tracks relevant case law developments and insures appropriate associates are aware of those impacting their matters.

Ensures development and implementation of consistent company positions on key issues.

Assesses competencies and workloads of outside counsel to optimize litigation assignments.

Formulates negotiation strategy through collaboration with in-house legal team and outside counsel, actively negotiating matters involving a wide range of exposures.

Travels to and personally appear at court conferences, mediations, arbitrations, strategy sessions, witness interviews, site visits or as otherwise necessary, primarily in the United States, but with some international travel possible.

Provides testimony when called upon for information that is not privileged, confidential or protected from disclosure.

Assists with review of potential acquisitions.

Models exposures and formulates resolution strategy.

Maintains the highest degree of confidentiality and ethics

Organizational

Develops creative ideas and solutions to real time business problems and/or business opportunities; takes reasonable, calculated risks even if failure is possible.

Empowers self and teammates to continuously improve RiverStones business processes/ systems and develops and escalates ideas and solutions.

Consistently delivers superior customer service to both internal and external business partners.

Demonstrates alignment with RiverStones Commitments.

Prioritizes and organizes work in self-directed manner.

Attains and maintains knowledge of assigned department.

Performs other duties as required, including supporting and coordinating with other department colleagues.

Creates the environment such that innovative thinking is encouraged and fostered throughout the organization; Takes ownership of innovation in their respective areas to ensure ideas are converted into business solutions; Encourages calculated risk taking and is willing to accept a reasonable degree of failure as a stepping stone to progress.

Takes ownership of process improvement in their respective areas to ensure that ideas are implemented and continuously reviewed.

Embed a strong customer service focus into the organization and ensure the consistent delivery of superior customer service.

Consistently demonstrates collaborative, team-based behaviors in all interactions with associates and outside counsel.

Required Skills

Leadership that inspires results, calculated risk taking and continual improvement

High caliber professional judgement

Outstanding written and oral communication skills.

Advanced expertise on insurance and/or reinsurance coverage law.

Knowledge of the insurance business.

Familiarity with lean management principles.

Disciplined, structured and logical approach to problem solving.

Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects successfully.

Proven record of delivery against deadlines.

Tendency to challenge the status quo and push for constant improvement.

Demonstrated skills in litigation management.

Experience with insurance coverage issues with respect to underlying claims involving pollution, toxic tort and construction defects.

Customer service oriented with the ability for developing long lasting relationships with internal and external business partners.

Customer service oriented with the ability for developing long lasting relationships with internal and external business partners.

Experience

Minimum of ten years of complex insurance litigation experience, whether as outside counsel or through employment in the insurance industry.

Required Education

Completion of law school with a Juris Doctorate and admission to a state bar.

Preferred Education or Certification

None required beyond required education

CPCU courses desirable

Supervisory Role

The Litigation Attorney directs the work of outside counsel (and other vendors) and also paralegals and support staff (and other internal resources) assisting on assigned work matters subject to existing standards, protocols and practices within the Legal group.

Travel

Varies. Frequent travel at times depending on case demands, mostly domestic but occasionally international.

Work Environment / Physical Demands

This position operates in a professional cubicle based collaborative environment and must have the ability to timely produce thorough, accurate work with many competing demands, deadlines, and distractions. The position uses standard equipment such as phones, computers, copiers/printers and filing cabinets. Noise level is moderate. While this is a largely sedentary role, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear; stand; walk; bend; use hands to handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms. On occasion the individual must be able to lift and transport boxes weighing up to 30 pounds.

Other Duties (Disclaimer Statement)

RiverStone retains the right to change or assign other duties to this position as needed, OR

Other duties or responsibilities may change or be assigned as needed.

Core Competencies

Competency numbers following each competency (in parenthesis) are provided for reference in Korn Ferrys FYI For Your Improvement book.

32.) Learning on the Fly: Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.

51.) Problem Solving: Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; probes all fruitful sources for answers; can see hidden problems; is excellent at honest analysis; looks beyond the obvious and doesnt stop at the first answers.

52.) Process Management: Good at figuring out the processes necessary to get things done; knows how to organize people and activities; understands how to separate and combine tasks into efficient flow; knows what to measure and how to measure it; can see opportunities for synergy and integration where others cant; can simplify complex processes; gets more out of fewer resources.

56.) Sizing Up People: Is a good judge of talent; after reasonable exposure, can articulate the strengths and limitations of people inside or outside the organization; can accurately project what people are likely to do across a variety of situations.

22.) Ethics and Values: Adheres to an appropriate( for the setting) and effective set of core values and beliefs during both good and bad times; acts in line with those values; rewards the right values and disapproves of others; practices what he/she preaches.