Attending the Insurance Law Institute is the best way to ensure you are completely up to date on the latest cases, legislation and other developments in insurance law. The program provides practical instruction on important topics and opportunities to discuss cutting-edge legal strategy with leading practitioners and judges alike. Includes a full year of ethics credit if you attend both days.
Topics include:
• Claims made
• Reported Policies
• Mediation
• Federal Practice
• First and Third Party Bad Faith
• And more
Seminar Co-Chairs:
Steven Plitt, The Cavanagh Law Firm
Jordan Plitt, The Cavanagh Law Firm
Faculty:
Honorable Stephen M. McNamee, United States District Court
Honorable Joshua Rogers, Maricopa County Superior Court
Lynn Allen, Tyson & Mendes LLP
Parker Bunch, The Cavanagh Law Firm
Thomas Burke, Udall Law Firm LLP
Elizabeth Fleming, Udall Law Firm LLP
Kerry Griggs, The Cavanagh Law Firm
Robert Justman, Meagher & Geer PLLP
E.J. Kotalik, Jr., Peshkin & Kotalik
Dorothy Paine, Dorothy Q Paine, PLLC
Anne Schrock, Blue Cross Blue Shield
Wendi Sorensen, Burch & Cracchiolo
Christopher Stickland, Stickland ADR
See full agenda in the Handouts tab.
Lynn M Allen, Partner, Tyson & Mendes LLP
LYNN M. ALLEN is the Southwest Regional Managing Partner for Tyson & Mendes. Ms. Allen is an experienced trial lawyer who represents her clients in a wide variety of complex cases, including insurance coverage disputes, insurance bad faith, defense of personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits, products liability, premises liability, intellectual property, employment law, and appeals. Ms. Allen has extensive appellate experience in both the Arizona state and federal courts. She has been lead counsel in many successful jury trials, arbitrations, summary judgment motions, and appeals. She is a frequent lecturer on insurance bad faith and coverage issues in Arizona. Ms. Allen successfully defended an insurance company in a jury trial involving a $1.7 million claim of first party breach of contract and insurance bad faith arising from storm damage to plaintiff’s home. She also obtained summary judgment for her clients in a variety of high profile cases, including a wrongful death lawsuit against a condominium association arising from carbon monoxide poisoning; a claim for bad faith alleging breach of the duty to defend and indemnify against a $1.2 million construction defect claim; a bad faith claim arising from the denial of coverage and alleged breach of duty to defend an insured against a multi-million dollar wrongful death claim, with the court finding no coverage under the illegal consumption of alcohol exclusion; a bad faith claim arising from the denial of coverage for a multi-million dollar excess verdict in a wrongful death claim, with the court finding no coverage based on the physical abuse exclusion; and a bad faith claim arising from a residential theft, with the court finding the insured failed to cooperate and awarded attorneys’ fees to the insurer.
Ms. Allen earned her J.D. cum laude from the Arizona State University College of Law in 1989, where she served as a note and comment editor on the Law Review. She is licensed to practice law in Arizona and is a member of the Maricopa County Bar Association and Arizona Association of Defense Counsel. Ms. Allen is rated AV-Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell and has been honored as a Southwest Super Lawyer for Insurance Coverage for 2011-2016.
In her free time, Ms. Allen enjoys spending time with her teenage son and cheering him on during his football games. She also enjoys traveling, especially cruising.
Parker C Bunch
Parker is a Member at The Cavanagh Law Firm, P.A. in Phoenix. His practice focuses on the analysis of complex first and third-party coverage issues across various lines of insurance. His practice also involves the litigation of insurance coverage and bad faith actions in state and federal court. Parker graduated cum laude from the University of Arizona College of Law in 2017.
Thomas P Burke
Thomas P. Burke is a highly respected trial and appellate attorney who has actively practiced law since graduating from the University of Arizona, College of Law in 1984. Mr. Burke has had success for many clients (individuals, companies, and governmental agencies) in a variety of cases in both trial and appellate courts and at the state and federal levels. Tom’s practice is primarily in tort matters which includes serious personal injury, wrongful death, insurance claims, product liability claims, premises liability claims, motor vehicle claims (automobile and trucking), liquor liability claims, and governmental claims. Tom is involved in various attorney associations, having served on the boards of a state organization and two national organizations, and has been a seminar speaker on many trial practice topics. In 2012, Tom was the only nominee in the state of Arizona to the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers where he was inducted as a ‘Fellow” in 2013.
Elizabeth Fleming
Elizabeth L. Fleming is a trial and appellate lawyer practicing in a variety of civil defense related areas. Ms. Fleming has represented companies and individuals in suits featuring insurance bad faith and coverage issues, construction defects, wrongful death, products liability, auto collisions, commercial auto, dog bites and contract issues. She also has substantial experience in appellate work both having handled appeals as a law clerk at the Court of Appeals and successfully appealing issues involving coverage, contractual matters, and evidentiary and legal issues stemming from trials up to an including published opinions from the Arizona Supreme Court. The majority of Ms. Fleming’s practice is devoted to litigation involving insurance companies, their insureds, advising and guiding insurance companies on claims handling practice and navigating difficult coverage issues. She has carried cases through the pre-litigation, litigation and appellate stages.
Kerry M Griggs
Kerry M. Griggs is a Senior Member in the Phoenix office of The Cavanagh Law Firm, P.A., and previously served as Chairman of the firm’s Board of Directors. He currently serves as the firm’s general counsel and risk manager. Kerry’s practice focuses on commercial litigation and first-party insurance disputes. Kerry regularly advises insurance companies on first-party coverage matters and coordinates coverage and special investigations, including examinations under oath and arson investigations. He has served as an appraiser in a number of first-party insurance losses. He is a regular guest lecturer for the International Association of Arson Investigators, addressing the appropriate investigation and litigation of civil arson cases, including the avoidance of excess exposure.
Emil J Kotalik, Jr, President, Peshkin & Kotalik PC
E.J. Kotalik, Jr. is the President of Peshkin & Kotalik, P.C. in Phoenix. His practice focuses on insurance coverage and bad faith litigation. He is listed as a Southwest Superlawyer ®, as one of The Best Lawyers in America ® in the field of insurance law and as a Phoenix Magazine Top Lawyer. Martindale-Hubbell also has awarded Mr. Kotalik an AV® rating. He is the author of “What Every Liability Insurer Should Know About Asserting a Coverage Defense in Arizona,” Arizona Attorney 14-17, March, 1993 along with other publications. In addition to his work for the State Bar of Arizona, he also has conducted seminars on insurance topics for the National Business Institute, the Arizona Association of Defense Counsel, the CPCU Society and several major insurance carriers. Mr. Kotalik earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1984 from the Hastings College of Law, University of California, where he was an editor of the Hastings Law Journal. As an undergraduate, Mr. Kotalik received a degree in economics from Claremont McKenna College. He also was selected as a law clerk to the Honorable Joseph T. Sneed, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In addition, Mr. Kotalik has served as a Judge Pro Tempore on the Arizona Court of Appeals.
Anne W Schrock, Director, Legal and Chief Privacy Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona
Is the Director of Legal Services and Privacy Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ). Prior to joining BCBSAZ in 2016, Anne served as vice president and general counsel at Delta Dental of Arizona, and as an associate at Snell & Wilmer, focusing her practice on commercial litigation health care services, health care transactions, compliance and regulatory matters. She also spent 15 years working at the National Security Agency, where she received numerous awards and recognition for outstanding performance and exceptional contributions to the intelligence community. Anne is a member of the Supreme Court's Attorney Ethics Advisory Committee and the State Bar's Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct. She received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and graduated magna cum laude from the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.
Nancy A Greenlee
Nancy A. Greenlee, sole practitioner, specializes in representing lawyers in disciplinary proceedings. From 1990 to 1996, she served as a State Bar of Arizona staff bar counsel responsible for investigation and prosecution of matters involving violations of the Rules of Professional Conduct. Nancy was a member of the State Bar of Arizona Ethics Committee from 2007 to 2016. She is the chair of the State Bar of Arizona Ethics Advisory Group. She is a former lawyer member of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct and a former Board member of the Young Lawyer’s Division of the Maricopa County Bar Association. Nancy graduated, with distinction, from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1986, and worked in private practice, handling primarily plaintiff’s personal injury cases and general litigation matters including some dissolution cases. Nancy frequently serves as a panel member for CLE seminars dealing with professional conduct and ethics. She can be reached at (602) 264-8110 or nancy@nancygreenlee.com.