EXCESS,
SURPLUS LINES AND REINSURANCE
(ESLR)
Committee News
| A Word From the Chair
| ESLR On-Line | TIPS Holds Spring Meeting in New
Orleans |
| Committee Members Respond to Annual Survey | 1998
Annual Law Survey Article |
July 1997
A Word from the Chair
By David O. Larson
It is hard to believe that Summer is right
around the corner. I would like to personally invite all Committee Members to attend the
ABA's Annual Meeting in San Francisco this August. As most of you know, the Committee is
joining forces with the Corporate Counsel Committee, the Self-Insurers and Risk Managers
Committee and the Public Regulation of Insurance Law Committee to sponsor a program
regarding excess, surplus line and reinsurance issues related to alternative risk
transfer. Committee Chair-elect, Ken Roberts, is coordinating this program which is
scheduled to kick-off the 1997 CLE schedule on Friday, August 1, 1997.
The Committee will also be holding its annual business meeting on August 1, 1997. As
usual, the business meeting will be conducted over breakfast as a prelude to the
presentation of our guest speaker - Mr. Earl Davis of the San Francisco Reinsurance
Company. I highly recommend attending the Committee business meeting and being on hand to
hear Mr. Davis' comments regarding the new developments in the insurance and reinsurance
industry. Also, in addition to the formal Continuing Legal Education programs, we are also
planning several informal activities for the San Francisco meeting. We will provide more
information shortly regarding these additional activities.
With regard to other matters, I would like to thank all of the committee members who
responded to the recent Committee Membership Survey. This survey provides important
information regarding member views and interests. A summary of the responses to the survey
is provided below.
Finally, while Committee Membership has steadily increased in the past several years, we
are continuing to actively recruit new committee members. Surprisingly, many practicing
attorneys are not familiar with the many benefits offered to members of TIPS and the ESLR
Committee. In the event you receive inquiries regarding TIPS and/or the ESLR Committee,
feel free to refer the individual to the ESLR Vice-chair for Membership, Tom Downey, at
(510) 444-6800 or TIPS Committee Administrator, Sonia Schroeder, at the TIPS office (312)
988-6229.
ESLR ON-LINE
Larry P. Schiffer
ESLR Webmaster
lschiffe@llgm.com
Insurance resources on the Internet are coming
on-line in droves. We have captured many of those resources for you on the TIPS and ESLR
web pages. Insurance information available on line ranges from the NAIC Home Page and all
of its resources and links (http://www.naic.org) to the Reinsurance Association of America
(http://www.raanet.org) to the hundreds of web sites launched by insurance companies,
reinsurance companies, and brokers. How do you find these sites you ask? The quickest way
is to use the links we have set up for you on the ESLR home page. Search engines also can
help you find insurance sites on the Internet. You can use the search site like Alta Vista
(http://www.altavista.digital.com) and type in the word "reinsurance" in the
text box. After you run the search (by hitting the search button), add the results page to
your list of bookmarks or favorite sites (you should have a button on the menu bar of your
browser that allows you to add sites to a list). Next time you want to check out sites
using the term "reinsurance," you need only go to your bookmark or favorite list
and click on the item to update the search. You can save any search as a bookmark or
favorite for future use.
Another source of information are the news sites on the Internet. Many of these sites
allow you to customize the type of news you wish to see. For example, you can customize
the site to just bring up insurance news. Yahoo is an Internet directory that allows for
customization (http://www.biz.yahoo.com/news). By focussing this news site to just
insurance news and then saving the result as a bookmark or favorite, you will be able to
pull up the latest insurance industry news from a variety of news sources. Another news
site that allows you to focus on an industry or segment of an industry is Newspage
(http://www.newspage.com). You can register on Newspage for a fee-based service to obtain
articles not otherwise available, or use the site to review the free information and
headlines on breaking news developments.
We plan to periodically update the ESLR hotlinks for you as insurance/reinsurance Internet
sources continue to expand. Please e-mail us with your hotlinks for inclusion.
TIPS HOLDS SPRING
MEETING IN NEW ORLEANS
The Tort & Insurance Practice Section held
its Spring Meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel in New Orleans on May 9 through May 12,
1997. TIPS members enjoyed Cajun cooking and Jazz music offered in the famous French
Quarter. The Section Dinner was held at the Historic Conti Wax Museum.
This year the Spring Meeting included several outstanding continuing legal education
programs. The Civil Procedure and Evidence Committee sponsored a half-day program entitled
"Revisiting The Attorney-Client Privilege Under Siege." The moderator for the
program was Vincent Walkowiak of the Fulbright & Jaworski firm in Dallas, Texas. ESLR
Committee member, Michael Knoerzer, was one of four outstanding speaker-panelists. The
book entitled "Attorney-Client Privilege in Civil Litigation," is an excellent
reference tool and TIPS members may order copies of it by calling the ABA Service Center
at 1-800-285-2221. The book costs $89.95.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
RESPOND TO ANNUAL SURVEY
Here is a short summary of the Membership
Survey responses. Of the 1,200 plus Committee Membership Surveys mailed, approximately 100
were returned. This response rate is significantly higher than the average for similar
surveys conducted in the TIPS section. While the surveys returned contain a wide range of
comments and observations, we have attempted to summarize the responses generally below.
With regard to the purpose of membership in the ESLR Committee, most responding members
cited "networking" and business development opportunities. Others cited
professional development based on continuing legal education programming and publications.
Many members cited the Committee's quarterly newsletter and the TIPS magazine as useful
publications. Other members inquired as to electronic access to the newsletter through the
Internet.
As to constructive criticism, a significant number of responding members indicated a
general interest in more regional programs. Proponents of this position typically stated
that expensive multi-day programs which require air travel are not practical for busy
attorneys where time spent out of the office must be scrutinized with a cost-benefit
analysis.
Finally, many committee members expressed a desire to become more active in the committee
and many pledged greater participation in the future. We encourage all members to become
more involved in the Committee. We are planning more regional meetings and hope to involve
more of the members of the Committee. Any member interested in working on a regional
program should contact Tom Downey at (510) 444-6800 or tdowney@larson-burnham.com.
1998 ANNUAL LAW
SURVEY ARTICLE
In February, the Tort & Insurance Law
Journal published its Annual Law Survey which included a chapter submitted by the ESLR
Committee. This is the most popular edition of the journal and it is widely circulated.
The Committee is currently recruiting contributing authors for the preparation of the 1998
Survey. Committee members interested in working on this project should contact Tom Downey
at (510) 444-6800 or tdowney@larson-burnham.com.
Back To ESLR Committee
Home Page
For enrollment in a committee of the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, simply fill out the on-line committee
application form.
Please note: If you are already a Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section member, you may join up to three (3) committees at no
additional cost. However, if you are not a Section member, you must join the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section first.
If you have any questions regarding
participation in TIPS Committees, please contact Sonia Schroeder, our Committees
Administrator at schroeders@staff.abanet.org
or by phone at 312/988-6229.
TIPS LEGAL
DISCLAIMER --
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links to other Web sites, have been provided by the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice
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nor any of their members assume any responsibility for any misinterpretation
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of the ABA, TIPS, or any of its entities or members. Users of this site should
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