Leading Insurance Law Firm in Nigeria
Imperial Law Office Attorneys' Insurance team draws on the combined resources of experienced litigators, governmental affairs attorneys and corporate attorneys to bring comprehensive understanding to matters on behalf of the insurance industry. We are consistently ranked in the top tiers for Insurance Litigation in Nigeria, which notes our "excellent reputation," "efficient staffing of cases," and describes our law firm as "responsive, efficient and large enough to handle research-intensive cases, as well as offer a carefully tailored approach." Our Insurance Litigation lawyers are said to “attract praise for her extensive insurance and reinsurance capabilities which include acting for insurers on coverage disputes and defending companies against product liability and construction defect claims." Our law firm is recognized nationally among Top leading Insurance Law Firms in Nigeria, housing a constellation of Best Insurance Lawyers in Nigeria,”
Imperial Law Office Attorneys ranks atop the leading Insurance Law Firms in Nigeria, housing a constellation of the legal industry's most sought-after leading
Insurance Lawyers in Nigeria. We represent our clients in a variety of different insurance-related areas, including insurance coverage, reinsurance, corporate litigation, insurance defence, bad faith litigation, insolvencies, governmental affairs and regulatory matters and intermediary and agency disputes. We appear regularly before trial and appellate courts, arbitration panels and governmental and regulatory agencies.
Coverage
A cornerstone of our Insurance Law practice is based upon representing our clients in a broad array of insurance coverage issues. This includes counselling clients on coverage issues, as well as defending them against insurance coverage litigation. Over the years, we have represented our clients in almost every conceivable variety of first and third-party coverage disputes including property, environmental, products and completed operations.
Our insurance lawyers are extremely knowledgeable in choice of law, the application of various policy exclusions, allocation issues and other substantive defences. We have dealt extensively with claims under products liability, automobile, multi-peril, advertising injury and property policies. Our practise has also given us in-depth exposure to issues unique to primary, excess and umbrella insurers.
Re-insurance
Another significant aspect of our Insurance Law Group is Imperial Law Office Attorneys' Reinsurance Law practice, which has developed extensively over the years. Our diverse representations have given us a thorough familiarity with and understanding of issues peculiar to reinsurance claims, including (1) the custom and practice of facultative and treaty placements, (2) the function, role and importance of reinsurance intermediaries, (3) the structure of reinsurance and retrocessional programs, and (4) the ceding and collection of reinsurance recoverables. We have arbitrated or litigated many of the coverage issues that typically arise in connection with reinsurance claims including occurrence, trigger, follow the fortunes, extra-contractual loss, late notice and good faith. We have also developed extensive experience in the appropriate allocation of underlying claims to reinsurance treaties. Finally, we have been involved in successful reinsurance collection efforts nationwide.
Corporate Litigation
Drawing from a deep bench of litigation talent within the firm, we have successfully litigated and arbitrated a wide range of matters for the corporate law departments of major insurers. Our extensive experience ranges from the representation of insurers in large scale, “bet-the-company” cases, to the defense of insurance companies in commercial litigation suits, to the prosecution of high-value collection matters. The combination of our attorneys’ deep insurance and litigation background with our tireless commitment to serving the needs of our clients makes Imperial Law Office Attorneys the law firm of choice for litigations and arbitrations both pursued and defended by insurance company clients.
Regulatory and Governmental Affairs
Our Lagos office serves as the centre of our Nigerian regulatory and governmental affairs practice. Our own extensive first-hand experience in government, we can realistically apprise clients of the prospects of obtaining their objectives and can offer imaginative and workable solutions to a variety of their problems.
We appear frequently before The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) on a broad range of insurance regulatory issues on behalf of insurers, reinsurers, captives, pools and self-insured retention programs. Our regulatory practise includes seeking regulatory approval of various insurance company transactions, litigation and appeal of contested cases involving assessments and rate cases and other regulatory matters. We regularly represent and advise insurers in connection with new policies and programs, licensing and market conduct issues. The firm serves as general counsel for one of the fastest-growing New Jersey personal lines carriers. We have represented this company in all aspects of doing business in Nigeria, including formation and other regulatory matters, agent contracts, claims coverage issues and corporate transactions. We also represent insurance companies in the legislative process. Our attorneys are experienced in investigating the impetus behind legislation, and in developing legislative strategies to advance our clients' interests. We often lobby for our clients' interests and secure legislative sponsorship and passage of bills, some of which we draft for those clients.
Insurance Defense
As part of her litigation practice, Imperial Law Office Attorneys has extensive experience in virtually all types of insurance defence litigation, including claims arising from professional liability, directors and officers liability, environmental liability, premises liability, homeowner liability and automobile liability, as well as construction defect, workers compensation and other general liability claims. Working closely with insureds and their insurer-claims management groups, we develop case strategies for achieving the dismissal, withdrawal and/or lowest cost settlement of litigation against our insured-clients, and aggressively put into action strategies designed to achieve these objectives. Our efforts have produced a long track record of success and have inspired the confidence of policyholders and insurers alike.
Bad Faith Litigation
An unfortunate result of the contentious nature of modern coverage disputes is that bad faith claims have become a common aspect in many of these cases. We have extensive experience in both counselling and defending our insurance clients on bad faith and unfair claims practices violations. Imperial Law Office Attorneys has been involved in all aspects of bad faith litigation. Recently, through several cases, we have been at the forefront of the developing category of bad faith litigation concerning the duties owed by primary to excess insurance carriers. We have also successfully defended our insurance clients in a variety of cases in which bad faith concepts have sought to be expanded under New Jersey law. We continue to be actively involved in this rapidly evolving area of law so that we may effectively defend our insurance clients.
Transactional
We have extensive experience representing insurers and their insurance holding companies in all aspects of finance and corporate transactions including formations, change of control, mergers, acquisitions, assumptions and reinsurance, private placements, replacement transactions, and surplus and capital notes. In our role as counsel to many insurers, we often negotiate and draft industry agreements including producer, broker, and agency agreements; operations and services agreements; and cost-sharing agreements.