AT McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP, we understand that the law is a means of achieving our clients' business objectives, not an end in itself. We strive to assist our clients in reaching their goals, by sharing with them the expertise and legal resources that we have accumulated in insurance law, litigation, and business counseling. We are dedicated to providing legal services of the highest quality, while remaining innovative, responsive, and cost-effective. McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP, which now has over twenty-five lawyers, was established in 1987 in Chicago by founding partners who averaged more than ten years of experience. From the outset, the firm had a national rather than local orientation, because a majority of its work was performed on behalf of foreign insurance organizations with legal questions arising under the laws of jurisdictions across the country. Today, the firm is engaged in a diverse national and international practice focused on the following practice areas: Insurance Law Litigation Business Counseling Our attorneys possess specialized knowledge in a broad range of specific subjects that cut across these practice areas. These include professional liability, directors and officers liability, products liability, aviation, health care, and employment law. Within these subject areas, we can, for example, defend claims, counsel insurers, draft policies and contracts, set up corporations, or litigate coverage disputes. We believe this strengthens our capacity to assist our clients in achieving their business objectives. Insurance Law INNOVATION is the key to success in the insurance industry today. At McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP, we believe it is our job to help our clients find new ways to achieve profits in today's competitive insurance environment. Over the years, we have represented innovative insurance leaders from all segments of the market, including Lloyd's and London companies, European reinsurers, Caribbean excess carriers, and the major U.S. insurance organizations. We take great pride in having helped to draft new insurance and reinsurance policy forms and advising our clients concerning the legal issues raised by the creation of new coverages. We understand that legal advisers in a dynamic industry serve their clients best by developing ways to overcome legal barriers, not by applying a legal veto to potentially valuable new products. McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP attorneys frequently act as counsel for insurance and reinsurance programs aimed at specific markets. In this role, we can help with the design of a product, conduct reviews that assist in the selection of risks, and exercise general oversight of claims. We audit portfolios of claims to set reserves and to evaluate the erosion of aggregates. In some cases, our audits serve as the basis for commutation or the transfer of a group of claims to another entity. When coverage is disputed, whether between insurer and insured or among multiple carriers, counsel must be prepared to persuade, arbitrate, or litigate. Often, as in the product liability class actions of recent decades, both liability and coverage are simultaneously in dispute, and the amounts at issue are enormous. We have represented insurance clients in some of the largest coverage matters of recent years. In a similar vein, we frequently represent carriers in subrogation actions and in disputes over reinsurance recoverables. Because most insurance transactions involve parties from several locations, coverage disputes invariably present complex choice of law questions. Our experience in this field includes cases spanning the U.S., many of them also raising issues under foreign law. We believe we have the competence to handle coverage counseling, arbitration, and litigation, regardless of venue. McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP is also able to assist clients in insurance regulatory matters, especially those arising from excess and surplus lines regulation. Litigation IN an era in which litigation often seems out of control, McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP is dedicated to focusing its attention on the fulfillment of its client's litigation objectives. Litigation presents a series of decisions - whether to initiate litigation defensively, what should be the scope of discovery, whether and when to propose settlement - in which lawyer and client must weigh both the risks and costs of their plan of action. It is our goal to ensure that these decisions are made with active attention to the client's interests, never reactively allowing litigation to take on a life of its own. McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP's litigation practice is international in scope and includes a broad range of subject areas. The firm concentrates its commercial litigation practice in such areas as employment discrimination, defamation, construction, employee benefits, trade secrets, intellectual property, consumer credit reporting, corporate control (including not-for-profit), and securities fraud. In insurance defense litigation, the firm concentrates on aviation, products liability, professional liability, and casualty cases. The practice also includes as one major component insurance coverage litigation and the defense of insurance-related errors and omissions claims. The firm's experience in these areas is considerable. McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP attorneys are experienced practitioners before state and federal trial and appellate courts and before state and federal administrative agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Illinois Human Rights Commission. The firm is particularly experienced in the area of alternative dispute resolution, including various forms of voluntary and mandatory arbitration and mediation. McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP attorneys have arbitrated many significant commercial disputes with great success, and have served on arbitration panels. Business Counseling MCCULLOUGH, Campbell & Lane LLP's business counseling practice focuses on serving as general and special counsel to address the legal needs of small, medium, and large corporations. The firm advises its clients by planning, negotiating and drafting documentation in connection with domestic and foreign mergers and acquisitions; debt and equity placements; agency, distributorship, supply, and licensing agreements; executive employment relationships; governmental licensing and regulatory compliance; employee benefits programs (including employee incentive stock plans); national and international joint ventures; and other general business planning and transactions. In addition, the firm's corporate practice draws upon the firm's extensive insurance experience in advising clients with respect to insurance coverage issues as such issues relate to corporate law, statutory requirements, articles of incorporation, and by-laws. In the context of corporate disputes, the firm's attorneys work with the client to evaluate and plan cost-effective dispute resolution consistent with the client's business relationships, whether through mediation, arbitration, or litigation. Special Areas of Expertise THE skills acquired in each of the practice areas described above can be applied to a range of specific subjects. Subjects in which our attorneys have particular experience include the following: Professional Liability McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP enjoys an extensive practice in the area of professional liability. The firm's practice is principally focused on matters involving the professional liability of accountants, attorneys, insurance brokers, architects and engineers, and employee benefits administrators. The breadth of McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP's experience in the area of professional liability enables the firm to provide its clients with a full range of services. These include the evaluation and monitoring of claims, interpretation of insurance coverage documents, litigation of coverage disputes, and the legal defense of professional liability claims. Because of the large sums involved in claims against professionals in these fields, including securities and RICO claims against accounting firms, such litigation is typically complex. Our lawyers have represented defendants in litigation in state and federal trial courts across the country, and on appeal. Where appropriate, the firm and its clients also utilize alternative dispute resolution tools such as arbitration and mediation. McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP also draws upon its professional liability experience to counsel its clients with a view toward identifying and eliminating liability risks. It has been a leader in preparing new coverage forms for excess carriers insuring professional liability risks. Products Liability and Environmental Torts Because of McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP's long association with excess insurers, we have had the opportunity to participate in the major products liability and environmental tort controversies of the past decade, including asbestos, silicone breast implants, and oil spills. Our experience extends to commercial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, toys, motor vehicles, and heavy construction equipment. We expect to remain at the forefront as new product and environmental issues emerge. The firm's practice includes the defense of claims, the interpretation of policy language, and the evaluation of insurance coverage issues. Often, the final resolution of these major tort claims, involving thousands of claimants and multiple defendants, requires settlement plans of great complexity that may take years to complete. We contribute a willingness to innovate in settlement negotiations and to monitor and protect our clients' interests as the settlement process unfolds. Directors and Officers Liability McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP has extensive experience in directors and officers liability cases. The firm's practice is principally devoted to representing insurers, although the firm also has experience in the direct representation of directors and officers. Our experience extends from matters involving small not-for-profit corporations to complex securities litigation. In particular, the firm has extensive experience in financial institution and hospital directors and officers liability cases. This background provides the firm with the capability to handle any type of directors and officers liability claim or to manage claims for an entire directors and officers liability insurance program. The services that McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP provides in the directors and officers liability area include policy drafting and the evaluation of the merits of claims against directors and officers. The firm also analyzes coverage under directors and officers liability policies and, if necessary, represents its clients in coverage litigation. McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP has many years of experience in the litigation of matters involving directors and officers liability in both the state and federal courts at both the trial and appellate levels. Health Care Attorneys at McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP have had the benefit of approaching health care issues from several directions. As we emerge more fully into the era of managed care, an increasing share of our business counseling practice consists of the establishment of corporations and partnerships devoted to providing or financing medical care and the drafting of contracts governing the relationship between insurers, providers, and patients. We also have a long history of representing professional associations. Our insurance lawyers have participated in the drafting of new forms of professional liability coverage applicable to new types of health care entities. McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP lawyers act as the insurer's or reinsurer's representative for dozens of excess medical liability insurance programs involving hospitals, managed care organizations, and physician groups. We evaluate and settle major claims, arbitrate and litigate disputes between insurers and insureds, and conduct periodic audits of insureds to set reserves, analyze major claims, and determine aggregate losses. These audits, which are used as a means of assessing risk, both for purposes of underwriting and adjusting losses, include an evaluation of the risks faced under applicable local law and a critique of the insured's programs to manage risks and control losses. Aviation McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP's aviation attorneys represent major air carriers, aviation aircraft manufacturers, and an international gas turbine engine manufacturer for both civil and military aircraft and industrial application. The firm's practice includes advising these clients and their insurers prior to litigation, as well as representing them in courts across the nation at trial and on appeal. These cases include complex product liability issues, contractual issues, and choice of law issues. McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP has represented clients in multi-district, mass disaster cases including In re Air Disaster at LaGuardia Airport of March 22, 1992. Employment Law McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP has acquired considerable expertise in employment law. In particular, our lawyers have developed experience in defending employment discrimination claims, as both legislation and case law continue to erode the employment-at-will doctrine. The firm has trial experience at every level, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Illinois Human Rights Commission, and the state and federal courts. Our employment law practice also includes appellate work. McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP has successfully handled matters involving age, race, sex, and disability discrimination; wrongful termination; retaliatory discharge; employment defamation; employment contracts; covenants not to compete; and negligent hiring or supervision. In an effort to help its clients avoid litigation, the firm counsels clients with respect to reductions in force, terminations, and other personnel matters. Copyright © 1997-2006 McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP. All Rights Reserved.