Law Firm, Interrupted: Business Interruption Claim Strategies for Your Practice
Live Webcast
Blank Rome Partner Mary Craig Calkins will be a speaker at the American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education (“ALI CLE”) webinar, Law Firm, Interrupted: Business Interruption Claim Strategies for Your Practice, being held September 30, 2020, as a live webcast.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an acute impact on attorneys and law firms, and especially trial lawyers. Many courts have been and still are closed; and lawyers and administrative staff are required to work remotely to comply with social distancing and other safety guidelines. Yet, a firm’s contractual obligations associated with commercial office and equipment leases and ongoing payroll and employee benefit obligations remain intact. Sadly, solo and small firms might experience additional risks and losses. This difficult reality is exacerbated by the outbreaks of civil unrest around the country.
As a result, many law firms are turning to their insurance carriers and asserting business interruption loss claims. Some firms are already in litigation seeking a judicial determination on whether their law firm is entitled to insurance coverage for their business income loss, while others continue to negotiate under the terms of their policies.
Topics include:
- Whether and under what circumstances a law firm that has been forced out of its offices and suffered a business reduction and economic loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic satisfies the fundamental requirements for business interruption coverage;
- The extent to which business interruption coverage is designed to cover coronavirus losses suffered by law firms;
- How insurance carriers are responding to these claims;
- A law firm’s proof of its damages, especially when other potential events are occurring;
- The procedures a law firm should follow for the claims process and responses to insurer inquiries; and
- The extent that attorney-client privilege impacts a law firm’s efforts to establish damages and coverage.
For more information, please visit the event webpage.