Reinsurance Focus

Last week, we posted the 1,000th post to Reinsurance Focus. For any blog to reach that status, two factors must be present: (1) content that appeals to a sufficient number of readers; and (2) a dedicated staff of writers. This blog has drawn a good deal of interest from a broad range of readers from a number of countries, from insurance and reinsurance companies, brokers, law firms, academics, hedge fund personnel, editors of other blogs, on-line and print media and others. Frankly, I have been somewhat surprised but gratified by the number of readers that read our blog posts every month. We hope that we can continue to provide our readers with content of interest. I encourage you to use the e-mail link below to share with me your comments and suggestions for how we can make the next 1,000 posts of even greater interest to you. Obviously, this blogmaster has not written 1,000 posts. Thanks to Lynn (a writer from nearly the beginning and our every other week editor-in-chief) and writers, Karen, John, Dan (who is leaving us this week to take an in-house position), Brian and John. We could not have done this without each one of you. Thanks again, and I hope to hear from you, our readers.

Rollie Goss, blogmaster.

Welcome to the new format Reinsurance Focus. We have moved some of the sidebar content to tabs across the top of the page for easier navigation and viewing, and added additional content in the tabs. Our blog search function now features advanced Boolean search capabilities and highlighted hits. We have also added an area with additional content with password only access for subscribers. All readers can see the type of content available in the Subscriber Only area, but will need the subscriber password to see the actual content.

This post written by Rollie Goss.

We recently experienced a hardware problem and a problem with our e-mail subscription service that resulted in an interruption of our e-mail update service to our subscribers. We have resolved the problem, and are moving to a different e-mail service to ensure greater reliability. When we make the move to the new service, our existing subscribers may receive a Welcome e-mail asking you to re-confirm your subscription. Please do so. Please go to Reinsurance Focus to see the content that was not forwarded to you druing this interruption in the e-mail service. We apologize for this interruption.

We are also in the final stages of upgrading our blog generally, which will feature an easier to use navigation system. The upgrade also will permit us to offer selected additional content only to those who subscribe to our e-mail updates. The initial offering will be a short free webinar on the proposals to “modernize” the regulation of the reinsurance industry coming from both the NAIC and the Obama Administration. If you are not a current subscriber, and are interested in receiving such content, please subscribe to our blog below. Existing subscribers need not do so to receive notification of such additional content.

To sign up for e-mail updates of all blog posts, enter your e-mail address here:

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This post written by Rollie Goss.

We are upgrading Reinsurance Focus at the end of this week. You will see a new look and new features to provide added value to our readers. The changes include:

• A different look, which is pleasing to read and helps us more effectively utilize the screen space to convey information to our readers.
• A hyperlinked table of contents near the top of the side bar, with periodic links in the side bar back to the top of the page, to provide more efficient navigation. A “NEW” flag will be posted for two weeks by the titles of side bar items that have been amended, so that you can more easily find new content.
• A new substantive feature towards the top of the side bar titled “Treaty Tips,” which provides guidance for the drafting of reinsurance agreements. A new “tip” will be posted approximately once a month.
• More frequent Special Focus posts, which provide treatment of a topic of interest in greater depth than our normal blog posts. John Pitblado is the editor for these posts, and John would appreciate suggestions for topics of interest to our readers.
• If you open an individual post by itself, you can e-mail that post to a colleague with a comment.

We hope that these changes improve your experience with our blog. Thanks for visiting us!

This post written by Rollie Goss.

We have added some new features to Reinsurance Focus to make it more useful for our readers. While we have been posting information about upcoming educational programs of interest and recent law review articles of interest, this information has not been conveniently displayed on an ongoing basis. We have added two sections to the right sidebar of the front page. Coming Events has the titles, principal sponsor, date and location of educational programs of interest, with links to the URL for the program promotional materials. Recent Law Review Articles has the author, title and publication information for law review articles of interest. You will need a subscription to LEXIS, WESTLAW or some other service to view such articles. We have also added the name of the Jorden Burt attorney writing each post at the end of the post with an e-mail link, in case you wish to ask for additional information. Finally, we have added links to biographical information about our post authors and information about our reinsurance practice in the Welcome box at the top of the right sidebar. We hope that this additional information is helpful to our readers, and encourage comments and suggestions on how to make Reinsurance Focus more useful to you.

Rollie Goss

A new section has been added to the sidebar of Reinsurance Focus, providing quick access to selected Internet links described in various posts. There are three parts to the links section: Blogs; Organizations; and Topics. The Blogs section contains links to other blogs related to reinsurance, arbitration or insurance matters. The Organizations section contains links to such organizations as ARIAS, RAA and the NAIC's Reinsurance Task Force. The Topics section contains links to the NAIC's Finite Reinsurance resources and alternative risk transfer resources. Additional links will be added to these sections. I hope that this section will be useful in helping you find other helpful content on the Internet.

The materials on this blog are made available by JORDEN BURT LLP for informational purposes only and are not legal advice. The transmission and receipt of information contained on or relating to this blog do not form, constitute or create an attorney-client relationship. Persons receiving the information on this blog should not act upon such information without seeking professional legal counsel.

Neither the choice of what material to present in this blog, nor the text of descriptions and comments in blog posts, represent the legal opinions of Jorden Burt or its clients. Blog posts may not be quoted, nor positions in blog posts cited, by lawyers, law firms or others in any context without the express written approval of Jorden Burt.

The materials on this blog represent very selective items of possible interest to those in the reinsurance field, and may not reflect the most current legal developments. Links within the Reinsurance Focus blog may lead to other sites. The Reinsurance Focus blog does not incorporate any materials appearing in such linked sites by reference, and JORDEN BURT does not necessarily sponsor, endorse or otherwise approve of such linked materials.

The hiring of an attorney is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before you decide, ask us to send you free written information about our qualifications and experience.

This blog has been created and is maintained by the Reinsurance Industry Group of Jorden Burt LLP, a national law firm with a unique focus on financial services and a national reputation in high stakes litigation, financial regulation and product counseling. For more information on the firm and our practice, visit our firm's web site. We have offices in Miami, Florida, Simsbury, Connecticut and Washington, DC.  Separate entries in this category of the blog provide additional information about our firm and its reinsurance practice.

This blog does not provide legal advice, but instead provides information for its readers about items of interest to those in the reinsurance industry or providing services to the reinsurance industry.  It covers recent court decisions relating to reinsurance from US and UK courts, regulatory developments and selected news items relating to the reinsurance industry.  In addition, due to the importance of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) to reinsurance dispute resolution, we cover court decisions of interest relating to the FAA, even though they do not relate to reinsurance disputes.  Occasionally, we will add a slightly more extensive entry as a Special Focus for a topic of particular interest. Two postings each week are selected as the “most interesting” ones of the week, and in addition to the normal substantive categories, are placed in the category titled Week's Best Posts.

Reinsurance Focus was created by, and is maintained by, attorneys active in our reinsurance practice, including:

• Roland C. Goss – A partner resident in our Washington, DC office, active in our reinsurance dispute resolution practice, Chair of our Reinsurance Industry Group, blog administrator and a blog contributor
• Sheila Carpenter – A partner resident in our Washington, DC office, active in our reinsurance dispute resolution practice, a certified arbitrator and a blog contributor
• Lynn Hawkins – An associate resident in our Washington, DC office, active in our reinsurance dispute resolution practice, a contributor and the blog's assistant adminsistrator

Jorden Burt provides a variety of services to those in the reinsurance industry with respect to the resolution of reinsurance-related disputes, including representation in lawsuits and arbitrations, counseling and service as arbitrators in mock arbitrations. For a description of our reinsurance dispute resolution, and infomation about who to contact about such services, see our reinsurance dispute resolution practice description.

Jorden Burt provides a variety of trasactional services to those in the reinsurance industry, including contract drafting, regulatory issues and much more. For a description of our reinsurance transactional services, and infomation about who to contact about such services, see our reinsurance transactional practice description.