The Policyholder Podcast: Presented by SDV Fenchurch

In this episode, our host David Pryce welcomes special guest Rob Jacobs, Partner at Blank Rome to discuss hot insurance issues from the US.

Rob represents policyholders in a wide array of insurance recovery disputes arising from product liabilities, toxic torts, first-party property loss, business interruption, advertising liability, professional liability, kidnap and ransom losses, and various directors and officers-related liabilities, to name a few.

This week, our host David Pryce welcomes one of the US’ preeminent mediators, Jeff Kichaven, to discuss Mediating Coverage Disputes.

Jeff has a widely known and respected mediation practice and regularly assists parties in coming to a settlement in complex insurance disputes. His unique approach to mediation guides lawyers and clients toward the clear, focused decision-making, from which settlements naturally follow. Jeff is an Honors Graduate of Harvard Law School and a Phi Beta Kappa Graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.

This week, our host David Pryce welcomes OvationXL’s Managing Director, Robin Johnson for a special edition to discuss lessons from 20 years of working with law firm leaders.

Robin is global leadership coach and currently supports business leaders in nine countries. Most of his clients are focused on increasing efficiency, team building and business expansion. 50% of Robin’s clients work in professional services, including law firms and financial services, with the remainder coming from independent schools, charities, manufacturing, retail and the public sector.

In this episode we cover the following:

• What does coaching involve, and how does it help those being coached to improve and grow?
• What are the similarities and differences between law firms and other professional service firms, such as insurance brokerages?
• What do the leaders of professional service firms tend to do well, and what do they tend to do less well?
• What makes a healthy culture?

In our Good, Bad, or Ugly segment find out why Robin thinks convergent and divergent thinking is good for those working in professional services, and why doing deals over "liquid lunches” can be ugly.

Partners Aaron Le Marquer and David Pryce are joined by special guest Tets Ishikawa to discuss funding for insurance coverage disputes.

Tets is the Managing Director at LionFish, a specialist litigation funder based in London, that offers intelligent pricing and focuses on financing commercial litigation risks. In this episode we cover:

• Where litigation funding currently stands – where has it come from, and what’s the direction of travel?
• Recent developments and trends in litigation funding.
• Do funders like insurance disputes, or are there difficulties with funding cases against insurers? 

In our Good, Bad, or Ugly segment, find out why Tets thinks that new entrants into the litigation funding market is good for policyholders.

Managing Partner David Pryce is joined By Airmic CEO, Julia Graham, and Insurance Manager of Compass Group, Scott Feltham, to discuss what policyholders want from the insurance market.

In this episode we cover the following:

• What do policyholders want from the insurance market?
• Is the insurance market delivering what policyholders want?
• What are the challenges in terms of how the market is meeting the needs of policyholders, and what are the solutions?

In our “Good, Bad, or Ugly” segment, find out why Scott thinks the prevalence of intangible risks in the modern world is Ugly for policyholders, and why Julia thinks a move to a better understanding of data is Good for the whole insurance industry.

Managing Partner David Pryce is joined by Partner, Jonathan Corman and special guest David Hertzell to discuss the Insurance Act and if it achieved what the Law Commissions intended. 

David Hertzell was appointed the Law Commissioner in 2007 until 2014. As Law Commissioner he was responsible for various commercial and common law reform projects, including the recent major reforms of insurance contract law, the law relating to the supply of goods and services, unjustified threats in intellectual property litigation and the fiduciary duties of investment intermediaries. 

In this episode we cover the following:

• Problems that the Law Commissions were trying to fix
• The behaviours the Commissions were trying to change
• The extent to which the introductions of the Insurance Act and the Enterprise Act has had the desired effect

In our The Good, the Bad & the Ugly segment for policyholders find out why David thinks the regulators involvement in the Aon-Willis merger is good for policyholders and why the market’s response to Covid was bad.