Our Areas of Practice

SVBF is a boutique law firm that specializes in insurance related issues.
With over 80 years of partner experience, SVBF can handle your insurance, reinsurance and regulatory matters, while offering a flexible billing structure.

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Insurance

Stalker | Vogrin | Bracken | Frimet is one of the leading providers of legal services to the insurance and reinsurance industry. The partners of SVBF have over 80 years of aggregate experience in representing insurance carriers, cedants, reinsurers, and retrocessionaires in court and in commercial arbitration proceedings throughout the United States. In doing so, SVBF quite often employs a multi-disciplinary approach to the issues faced by our clients in the following areas:

  • Accident and Health
  • Advertising Injury
  • Bad Faith/Extra-contractual Issues
  • Class Actions
  • Complex Litigation
  • Construction Defect coverage and defense
  • Environmental
  • Event Cancellation / Prize Indemnity
  • Excess and Surplus Lines
  • General Liability
  • Kidnap and Ransom
  • Latent Injury
  • Negligence
  • Political Risk
  • Products Liability
  • Professional Liability
  • Property – both commercial and homeowners
  • Sexual Molestation
  • Subrogation
  • Toxic Tort
  • Transactional matters

Our goal in representing our clients is simple- to work closely with them in every aspect of a matter in order to provide them with an on-going comprehensive analysis regarding the issues they face, so that they can make informed business decisions on how to proceed. In all aspects of our representation, we pride ourselves on being available to our clients in order to assist them in making such decisions.

Our attorneys are recognized as industry leaders. Some have functioned as claim and insurance executives for both cedants and reinsurers. Others have spent significant time in the London insurance market. Based upon our breadth of experience and knowledge, our attorneys are often speakers and chairs at leading industry seminars and conferences including The National Constitution Center, American Claim Institute, H.B. Litigation, North American Contingency Association and ARIAS-US.

In addition to our knowledge of the industry, our attorneys have an extensive background in both litigation and various forms of alternative dispute resolution. This has made us well suited to provide appropriate and sound business advice throughout the course of our representation.

Reinsurance

Stalker | Vogrin | Bracken | Frimet regularly represents both cedants and reinsurers in complex issues that arise under reinsurance and retrocessional agreements. Our firm has successfully counseled, arbitrated, litigated and mediated on behalf of our domestic and international clients concerning a wide variety of claim types, including the following:

  • Asbestos
  • Bail Bonds
  • Boiler and Machinery
  • Construction Defect
  • Environmental
  • Extra-contractual
  • Medical Malpractice
  • Mass Tort
  • Sexual Molestation
  • Workers Compensation Carve-out and Excess Workers Compensation

At SVBF, we also provide the following expertise and services:

  • Claim inspections
  • Commutations
  • Collecting aging balances
  • Drafting and revising reinsurance agreements
  • Reinsurance regulations
  • Reinsurance transactions

With over 80 years of aggregate partner experience, we can address your reinsurance needs in a flexible billing structure. Please feel free to contact George Vogrin (212-513-1075) in New York or Tim Stalker (484-753-0250) in our Philadelphia metropolitan office to discuss our numerous successes in representing cedants, reinsurers and retrocessionaires over the last 30 years.

Insurance and Reinsurance Regulatory and Transactional Practice

In this time of enhanced scrutiny of financial services institutions, the companies operating in the insurance and reinsurance industries must ensure more than ever that they comply with state and federal laws and regulations.

At Stalker | Vogrin | Bracken | Frimet, we believe that a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to regulation is in the best interests of our clients. Nevertheless, we are also prepared to aggressively advocate before the departments of insurance when our clients’ business practices are questioned. It is our belief that by establishing professional, working relationships with regulators, while at the same time aggressively advocating for our clients, we will obtain the best result for all involved.

We have assisted clients on a regulatory and transactional basis by:

  • Reviewing and drafting policy forms for compliance with state requirements;
  • Conducting multi-state analysis of regulatory requirements for insurers, reinsurers, agents, brokers, reinsurance intermediaries and TPAs, including licensing, claims handling, reporting and marketing requirements;
  • Filing new forms with state insurance departments;
  • Developing new insurance products;
  • Obtaining proper licensing and certifications; and
  • Developing and modifying business practices.

Our regulatory and transactional professionals are members of industry organizations dedicated to educating both the industry and regulators about insurance compliance and regulation. SVBF also attends industry conferences and meetings, such as the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), in an effort to keep us and our clients apprised of current events and changes in the regulatory landscape.