Description
Davies North America is looking for a Senior Complex Claims Consultant / Claims Counsel to manage and resolve high-severity, complex insurance claims with a strong emphasis on coverage analysis, policy interpretation, and strategic claim resolution.
The successful candidate will manage a portfolio of complex claims that may involve seven-figure exposures, multi-party disputes, regulatory involvement, remediation costs, bodily injury, property damage, professional negligence allegations, expert disputes, and excess implications.
Key Responsibilities:
Complex Environmental & Professional Liability Claims Management
- Independently manage a portfolio of high-severity environmental and professional liability claims from assignment through resolution.
- Handle matters involving significant financial exposure, including claims with seven-figure reserves, demands, settlements, or potential judgments.
- Evaluate liability, damages, causation, scope of remediation, professional standard of care, regulatory exposure, contractual risk transfer, and excess exposure.
- Analyze environmental reports, remediation estimates, expert reports, engineering evaluations, professional services contracts, pleadings, and damages assessments.
- Develop and execute claim resolution strategies based on investigation, legal risk, policy obligations, technical evidence, litigation posture, and business objectives.
- Provide clear, independent evaluations and recommendations to carriers and internal stakeholders.
- Maintain accurate and thorough documentation of claim strategy, liability analysis, damages evaluation, coverage issues, reserves, and resolution activity.
Litigation Management & Strategy
- Oversee complex litigated environmental and professional liability claims, including pollution liability, environmental impairment, consultant liability, architects and engineers liability, construction-related professional liability, and other specialty liability matters.
- Direct and partner with defense counsel on litigation strategy, discovery, expert retention, remediation analysis, dispositive motions, mediation preparation, and trial planning.
- Review and analyze pleadings, discovery responses, technical reports, site assessments, expert opinions, remediation plans, contracts, mediation briefs, and trial assessments.
- Establish litigation plans, budgets, and key milestones in partnership with counsel and carriers.
- Attend and actively participate in mediations, settlement conferences, strategy meetings, and significant litigation events.
- Provide strategic recommendations regarding settlement, continued defense, alternative dispute resolution, or trial preparation.
Coverage Analysis & Policy Interpretation
- Review and interpret environmental liability, pollution liability, professional liability, E&O, excess, umbrella, and specialty liability policies.
- Analyze policy language, endorsements, exclusions, claims-made provisions, pollution exclusions, professional services definitions, notice issues, and allocation concerns.
- Provide recommendations related to defense obligations, indemnity exposure, reservation of rights, coverage defenses, and allocation.
- Draft, review, or provide input on reservation of rights letters, coverage position letters, disclaimers, and denial letters, as appropriate.
- Partner with coverage counsel, in-house legal teams, carriers, and internal stakeholders on complex coverage matters.
- Identify and escalate coverage disputes, bad faith concerns, excess exposure, regulatory concerns, and other high-risk claim developments.
Settlement, Negotiation & Resolution
- Evaluate settlement demands and develop negotiation strategies based on liability, damages, technical evidence, remediation exposure, professional negligence allegations, venue, coverage, and verdict risk.
- Negotiate settlements within authority and make recommendations for matters requiring additional approval.
- Manage reserves in accordance with carrier guidelines and claim exposure.
- Participate in mediations and settlement conferences involving high-value environmental and professional liability disputes.
- Balance legal risk, financial exposure, policy obligations, regulatory considerations, and business objectives when recommending claim resolution.
Skills, Knowledge & Expertise Required
- Juris Doctor (JD) with active bar membership in good standing, or
- 7–10+ years of senior-level experience handling Environmental Liability, Pollution Liability, Professional Liability, or similar complex claims.
- Demonstrated experience handling claims with significant financial exposure, including seven-figure settlements, reserves, demands, or potential judgments.
- Strong litigation management experience, including directing outside counsel and developing litigation strategy.
- Experience evaluating liability, damages, technical expert evidence, coverage, reserves, settlement value, and trial risk.
- Demonstrated expertise in insurance coverage analysis and policy interpretation.
- Experience issuing, drafting, reviewing, or advising on coverage positions, including reservation of rights letters, disclaimers, or denial letters.
- Active adjuster licenses in applicable jurisdictions, or ability to obtain additional licenses as required.
- Strong negotiation, analytical, documentation, and communication skills.
Preferred Experience
- Environmental liability, pollution liability, architects and engineers, consultant liability, construction professional liability, E&O, or professional liability claims experience.
- Experience working with environmental consultants, engineers, remediation experts, coverage counsel, and defense counsel.
- Experience working in a Major Case Unit, Complex Claims Unit, Specialty Claims Unit, or Excess Claims environment.
- Prior experience as Claims Counsel, Coverage Counsel, National General Adjuster, Executive General Adjuster, Senior Claims Examiner, Complex Claims Specialist, or Senior Complex Claims Consultant.
- Strong understanding of bad faith risk, excess exposure, allocation, regulatory issues, coverage litigation, and complex professional liability evaluation.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision plans to support your health and that of your family
- A 401(k) plan with employer matching
- Time-off policies, including Discretionary Time Off (DTO) for exempt employees and Paid Time Off (PTO) for non-exempt employees
- Paid holidays
- Life insurance and short-term and long-term disability coverage