CLM Unites Insurers, Defense Lawyers and Insureds

Insurance claims professionals, insureds and outside defense lawyers have often worked at cross-purposes, making for inefficiency and less-than-optimal results. But change has been afoot since the Council on Litigation Management (CLM) began aligning defense-team goals in early 2007.

“We’re bringing law firms and the industry together to create efficiencies. If we become more efficient working together as a team, both sides will be more effective and profitable,” says Advisory Board member Domenick DiCicco Jr., senior VP and chief legal officer for claims at Zurich North America.

The only organization dedicated to training both defense and claims professionals in litigation management, the CLM has attracted thousands of litigation management and claims executives, attorneys, adjusters, risk managers and general counsel.

Involving more than 125 insurance companies, numerous corporations, every major brokerage firm, hundreds of third-party administrators and adjusters, and defense lawyers and firms nationally, CLM is the largest organization solely committed to furthering the highest standards of litigation management. CLM sponsors free courses for adjusters, supports 10 hardworking committees and runs an information-packed annual conference. Its Advisory Board boasts executives from companies like AIG, Aon, Costco, Fireman’s Fund, Liberty Mutual and Sony Pictures. “The quality of people on the committees and Advisory Board is extraordinary,” DiCicco says. “We all share same goals in litigation—to get the best outcome for our mutual client, the insured.”

CLM is made up of Fellows and Members. Fellows include adjusters, claim executives, risk managers, inside counsel, litigation managers, self-insured companies and service providers. Admission as a Fellow is free. Members, who must be nominated by a Fellow, are individual defense attorneys and law firms.

Adam Potter, CLM’s founder and executive director, says the organization is forging a “bulletproof defense alliance,” uniting insurers, lawyers and insureds. “Insurers spend tens of billions of dollars a year on outside counsel,” Potter adds. “By working together, we can provide a better way to manage resources and achieve better results.”

About 300 insurance adjusters have attended litigation-management classes held in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York and San Francisco. “Litigation 101 for Insurance Professionals,” is for adjusters new to litigation. Adjusters with at least three years of experience take “Economics of Litigation Management,” which covers planning, budgeting, valuation, negotiation and resolution. Both offer adjuster continuing education credits.

“The adjuster training program is designed to fill the gap for young adjusters,” says Mari Henry Leigh, a CLM advisory board member and chair of its Education Committee. Leigh is a senior partner with Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick & Pearson LLP.

Taught by experienced defense lawyers, CLM’s classes “fast-track the learning curve on claims and offer a broader perspective on litigation management,” Leigh says. The courses are provided without cost. CLM’s Annual Conference in March will offer 16 sessions with 60 speakers, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, nominated as the next Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, will receive CLM’s Professionalism Award.

Leigh’s committee is working on creating a weeklong, intensive College of Litigation Management to be offered in conjunction with a major law school or university. Aimed at lawyers at all levels—both at law firms and companies—it would be an accredited curriculum offering a certification and diploma.

Attempts to set consistent industry guidelines for all defense firms have failed to take so far. Today, each insurer has different standards, and lawyers who represent many insurers find it difficult and inefficient to comply with them all. DiCicco co-chairs the committee working on industry-wide litigation guidelines. His committee is also developing recommendations for alternative fees. CLM also sponsors an online lawyer directory. Insurers often struggle to find a lawyer in a state where they don’t normally do much business. With CLM’s online defense lawyer directory, anyone can easily find at least several good choices in every state.

For more information about CLM, visit www.litmgmt.org.