Robert M. Hall

Qualifications    A Background of Excellence for Service in Arbitration and Mediation

Prior to opening a solo practice in 1998, Mr. Hall was a partner for three years in the Insurance Practice Group in the Washington, D.C. office of Piper Rudnick.  Before that, Mr. Hall spent 19 years in senior in-house counsel positions with several insurance and reinsurance companies where he obtained extensive expertise in primary insurance, excess and surplus lines, reinsurance, agents, brokers and intermediaries and attendant regulatory issues.  His current practice includes a wide variety of commercial and regulatory matters in the insurance and reinsurance field. In addition, he has served as an expert witness in arbitration and litigation.

Mr. Hall's background has qualified him to serve as an arbitration panelist for numerous reinsurance arbitrations, which traditionally require experience as an executive officer of an insurer or reinsurer and he has expanded his practice to other forms of insurance arbitrations and mediations.  Mr. Hall has formal training in arbitration and is certified as an arbitrator by ARIAS - US which is the United States affiliate of an international arbitration association.  In addition, he has had formal training in mediation from Pepperdine School of Law's prestigious Institute for Dispute Resolution.

  Arbitration and Mediation    An Overview of Alternatives to Traditional Litigation

While arbitrations vary in style and complexity, they traditionally offer considerable benefits over litigation.  In general, arbitrations are:

• Less costly
• Faster
• More flexible procedurally and substantively
• Private proceedings with confidential results
• These benefits are heightened with an arbitrator or arbitration panel with expertise in the subject matter being arbitrated e.g., insurance and reinsurance.

The mediation process provides the same benefits as arbitration but to a heightened degree.  For instance, mediation generally is far less costly even than arbitration for several reasons, including the absence of discovery.  Mediation, however, provides some additional benefits over arbitration:

• Generally, mediation is non-binding
• The objective is to facilitate an agreement of the parties
• No result is imposed on a disagreeing party
• There is more involvement of the parties in fashioning a remedy
• Ongoing relationships are more likely to be preserved
• There is an early focus on issues and remedies before considerable legal expenses are incurred and positions harden .

Mediation is particularly appropriate for disputes between insurers and reinsurers where there exists considerable opportunities for compromise on a commercial basis.  Mr. Hall is active in both mediations and arbitrations.

Resume    Years of Excellent Service as an Insurance and Reinsurance Professional

Professional Positions

1998 to present, consultant, expert witness, arbitrator and mediator of insurance and reinsurance disputes. Training in arbitration and mediation. Certified as an arbitrator and umpire by ARIAS - US.

1995 to 1998, partner, 1998 to 2002, of counsel, Piper Rudnick. Work involved a broad variety of insurance and reinsurance issues including commercial transactions, regulatory compliance and development and approval of new products.

1983 to 1995, American Re-Insurance Company, becoming Senior Vice President and General Counsel and a director of the Company.  Managed all in-house legal operations, non-claim litigation and headed an aggressive legislative and regulatory effort on the state and federal levels.

1979 to 1983, Reliance Insurance Companies, becoming General Counsel to various subsidiaries and affiliates specializing in surplus lines, specialty underwriting, risk management, product development and premium financing.

1976 to 1979, Vaughan Insurance Group, General Counsel of this group which consisted of a surplus lines insurance company and various affiliated managing general agencies and surplus lines brokers, developing and marketing a variety of professional liability and other specialty products in the surplus lines market.

Education

• B.A. University of Notre Dame, 1972
• J.D. Villanova School of law, 1975

Bar Memberships

• Pennsylvania
• New York
• Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• United States Supreme Court
• District of Columbia
• Virginia

  Regulatory Activities  Contributor to the Process of Insurance & Reinsurance Regulation

1999 to Present, Chair of ARIAS - US Mediation Committee.

1998 to 1999, member of Reinsurance Dispute Resolution Task Force which developed reinsurance arbitration procedures.

1983 to 1998, extensive involvement in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners ("NAIC") attending quarterly meetings and serving on a variety of task forces, advisory committees and resource groups dealing with such matters as:

• Regulation of foreign (non-U.S.) insurers and reinsurers
• Credit for reinsurance laws
• Regulation of reinsurance intermediaries
• Fronting
• Questionable transactions among holding company affiliates
• Miscellaneous guaranty fund issues
• Electronic communication among receivers and guaranty funds
• Setoff between insurers in a receivership context
• Measuring and reporting catastrophe exposure
• Reform of state receivership laws

1994 to 1998, Government Affairs Committee of the National Risk Retention Association.

1988 to 1995, Chair 1994-95, Law Committee of the Reinsurance Association of America ("RAA").  The RAA includes the great majority of the U. S. domiciled professional reinsurance capacity and represent their membership on all reinsurance related matters at the state and Federal levels.  Activities on behalf of the Law Committee included drafting of legislation and testimony in Congress, state legislatures and regulatory hearings.

1992 to 1995, member of the Solvency Committee of the National Association of Independent Insurers.

1991 to 1992, organizer and member of the Focus Group on insurer insolvencies which was an independent group of insurance industry, guaranty fund, receiver and regulator representatives.  The Focus Group analyzed the problems of the current state receivership system and outlined a structure for an improved system.

1992 to 1995, member of the American Bar Association Insolvency Task Force, which recommended improvements to the process for liquidating insurers in the United States.

Publications    Providing Technical Expertise in Insurance and Reinsurance Law

Pre-Hearing Removal of Arbitrators
XIV Mealey's Reins. Rpt. No. 21 at 22 (2004).

Manifest Disregard of Law or Facts or Both?
XIV Mealey's Reins. Rpt. No. 22 at 26 (2004).

Are Formal Hearings Necessary for Interim Issues in Reinsurance Arbitrations?
XIII Mealey's Reins. Rpt. No. 24 at 22 (2003).

Co-Author, Allocation to Reinsurers and Follow the Fortunes
XIII Mealey's Reins. Rpt. No. 19 at 26 (2003).

Intermediaries and Discovery in Reinsurance Arbitrations
XIII Mealey's Reins. Rpt. No. 15 at 27 (2002).

Responsibility of Receivers for the Sins of Prior Management
XIV Mealey's Insolv. Rep. No. 10 at 22 (2002).

Waiver of Arbitration Rights
XII Mealey's Reins. Rpt. No. 5 at 23 (2002)

Direct Actions and Equitas
XII Mealey's Reins. Rpt. No. 23 at 23 (2002)

Pre-Answer Security and Reinsurance Arbitrations
XII Mealey's Reins. Rpt. No. 18 at 20 (2002)

Fronting: Business Considerations, Regulatory Concerns, Legislative Reactions and Related Case Law
XII Mealey's Reins. Rpt. No. 14 at 22 (2001)

Cedents' Claims to Reinsurance Recoverables and Priority of Distribution
XII Mealey's reins. Rpt. No. 13 at 20 (2001)

Discovery by a Reinsurer of Documents from Cedents and Their Insureds
XII Mealey's Reins. Rpt. No. 9 at 24 (2001).

Judicial Issues in Arbitration Panel Selection
XII Mealey's Reins. Rpt. No. 8 at 16 (2001)

Reinsurance And Assumption Agreements: How Does The Novation Take Place?
XI Mealey's Reins. Rpt. No. 24 at 20 (2001)

Reinsurance Coverage of Excess of Policy Limits Claims and Extra Contractual Obligations,
XXI Mealey's Reins. Rept. No. 16 (2000)

Enforcing Net Retention Clauses in Reinsurance Claims,
XI Mealey's Reins. Rep. No. 15 at 21 (2000)

Reinsurer Claims to Subrogation and Salvage Recoveries in a Receivership Context,
XII Mealey's Insolv. Rep. No. 11 at 21 (2000)

Drawing Down Letters of Credit in an Insurer Recievership Context,
XI Mealey's Insolv. Rep. No. 21 at 22 (2000).

Should Reinsurance Contracts Be Construed Against Reinsurers?,
XI Mealey's Reins. Rep. No. 3 at 22 (2000)

Which Reinsurance Disputes are Covered by Arbitration Clauses?,
X Mealey's Rein. Rep. No. 24 at 17 (2000)

Cut-Through and Guarantee Clauses,
X Mealey's Reins. Rep. No. 21 at 18 (2000)

Alternatives to Estimation of Claims and Acceleration of Reinsurance
Receivables: The Uniform Receivership Law,
X Mealey's Insolv. Rep. No. 17 at 16 (1999)

Recent Case Law Developments with Arbitration in Receiverships,
International Journal of Insurance Law, Part 1 at 5 (1998)

Mediation of Reinsurance Disputes,
VIII Mealey's Reins. Rep. No. 10 at 20 (1997)

Direct Actions and Setoff:  the Next Generation,
VIII Mealey's Reins. Rep., No. 7 at 15 (1997).

Co-Author, Partiality Among Arbitration Panelists,
VIII Mealey's Reins. Rep., No. 3 at 18 (1997)

Co-Author, Reinsurers, Receivers and Abstention,
VII Mealey's Reins. Rep., No. 18 at 18 (1997)

Reinsurance Editor, Merritt Insurance Report (1996-97)

Co-Author, Considering the Captive Alternative,
 2 Vantage Point, Issue 1 at 2 (1997)

Co-Author, Casenote: Quackenbush v. Allstate Ins. Co.,
 Int'l J. of Ins. Law, P. 4, 323 (1996)
 
Is Reinsurance the 'Business of Insurance?',
 VII Mealey's Reins. Rep., No. 9 at 18 (1996)

When The Other Side Will Not Arbitrate: Judicial Appointment of Umpires and Arbitrators,
 VI Mealey's Reins. Rep., No. 24 at 15 (1996)

Lloyd's of London: Reconstruction and Renewal, Credit for Reinsurance and Equitas,
 PLI Conference on Lloyd's and the London Insurance Market (1996)

Changes to Lloyd's U.S. Trust Funds: Considerable Improvement Noted,
 Int'l J. of Ins. Law, P. 3, 204 (1996)

Changes in U.S. Credit for Reinsurance Laws,
 Int'l J. of Ins. Law, P. 4, 257 (1995)

Banks Selling Annuities May Cause a Turf Battle,
 Nat'l L. J., May 22, 1995 at 17

Security Devices for Unlicensed Reinsurers,
 16 U. Pa. J. Int. Bus. Law 41 (1995)

Toward a National System for Insurance Company Receiverships and
Collateralizing Reinsurance Recoverables, ABA Institute on Solvency Concerns
with Foreign Insurers and Reinsurers, (1994)

Co-Author, Insurance Company Insolvencies: Order out of Chaos,
12 J. Ins. Reg. 145 (1993)

Co-Author, Report of the Focus Group on Insurer Insolvencies
(unpublished 1991)

Unfinished Business: Credit for Reinsurance,
 91 Best's Rev. at 75 (1991)

Fronting: Here we Go Again,
 91 Best's Rev. Prop./Cas. Ed. 8 at 52 (Dec. 1990)

Co-Author, Setoffs, Recoupments and Voidable Preferences in the Insolvency Process,
 ABA Institute on Law and Practice of Insurance Insolvency Revisited (1989)

Offsets in Liquidations: A Matter of Balance,
 86 Best's Digest No. 6 at 56 (1986)

The Reinsurer's Liability in the Event of the Insolvency of a Ceding Insurer,
 21 Tort & Ins. L. J. 407 (1986)

Contractual Liability: Money-Maker or Morass,
 Weekly Und. (Feb. 24, 1979)
 

    Contact Mr. Hall

Robert M. Hall
150 Russell Avenue
P.O. Box 1110
Rockport, ME 04856

Tel. 207/236-6514
Fax. 207/236-6414

E-Mail: bob@robertmhall.com