ERISA Fiduciary Law Series: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

José M. Jara is Counsel in the Employee Benefits Department of Fox Rothschild, LLP, and focuses his practice on ERISA litigation and counseling.  He has defended fiduciaries and boards of directors against ERISA class action litigation alleging breach of fiduciary duty, including imprudent investments, excessive fees, and valuation issues in Employee Stock Ownership Plans. Mr. Jara’s practice also includes representing clients under investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) regarding civil and/or criminal violations of ERISA. He was formerly a complex claims director for a major international insurance company and a senior pension law specialist with the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration. He is currently the Group Chair of the Employee Plans and Executive Compensation Group of the American Bar Association and a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center.

Lawrence Fine is the Management Liability Coverage Leader for Willis Towers Watson’s FINEX North America division, with prior experience at law firms and an insurance carrier. He has more than 30 years’ legal and insurance industry experience, particularly in relation to Directors and Officers Liability, Professional Liability, Employment Practices Liability, and Fiduciary Liability.

Professional Experience

Prior to joining Willis Towers Watson, and after working at two law firms, Larry spent 27 years at AIG where he was responsible for all U.S. commercial D&O, fiduciary liability, employment liability and non-tech professional liability claims. For several years Larry was also Global Head of Professional Liability and D&O Claims at AIG. In his role as Claims Chief Technical Officer, Larry also helped write all of AIG’s Financial Lines policies and many endorsements which are still in use.

In his role at WTW, Larry provides Thought and Product Leadership in connection with D&O and fiduciary exposures, utilizing his voluminous experience working on complex and high exposure claims to provide unique insight to our clients. Larry provides clients with his coverage analyses, recommends litigation strategies, and uses his deep network of insurance executives, defense counsel, coverage counsel and mediators to leverage successful resolutions for our clients.

Speaking Engagements/Publications

Larry has spoken concerning directors and officers' liability, lawyers' liability, securities law, ERISA, employment and insurance issues at conferences sponsored by the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS), the Practicing Law Institute (PLI), Bloomberg, Thomson Legalworks, Director’s Roundtable, the Association of Enrolled Actuaries, the American Conference Institute (ACI), Directorship/Directorship.com, the FICC (Federation of Insurance and Corporate Counsel) and others. Larry has been published in diverse publications, including the Rutgers Law Review, Directorship Magazine, Legalworks ERISA Litigation Conference Handbook (Thomson), Pension Plan Investments: Confronting Today’s Issues (PLI), Securities Litigation Report, The Market Standard and Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact.

Alison L. Martin is a Senior Vice President and the Fiduciary Product Manager for Chubb Insurance’s North American Financial Lines, where she is ultimately responsible for the underwriting of fiduciary liability insurance for all varieties of organizations, including publicly traded and privately held companies, not for profit companies and multiemployer plans. Prior to becoming the Product Manager in 2016, she was a leader in Chubb’s claims department for over 15 years, where she handled the most complex and severe ERISA litigation (including excessive fee litigation, employer securities class actions and ESOP suits) and D&O litigation (including securities class actions and merger objection claims.) Ms. Martin speaks extensively, educating others on fiduciary obligations and exposures and transferring risk for these exposures through the use of fiduciary liability insurance.

Prior to working for Chubb, Ms. Martin was engaged in the private practice of law and was a partner with Lindsay Martin & Associates. She was also as a Member of the Board of Governors for the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and served on the boards of several not-for-profit organizations. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law, where she received a Law Fellows Scholarship.

Nick Landis is the Head of Fiduciary Product across all business segments for AIG Financial Lines. As the fiduciary liability insurance practice leader, Nick is responsible for the product’s strategy and portfolio management at the company, including coverages for publicly traded and privately held companies, not-for-profits, organized labor, and municipality plans. He was previously a Vice President for AIG’s Private and Not-For-Profit Financial Lines product team with responsibilities overseeing the portfolio management for the U.S. That portfolio included D&O, Employment Practices Liability, Fiduciary Liability, Fidelity, Kidnap Ransom and Extortion, and Employed Lawyers coverage. Nick has been with AIG’s financial lines team for over 20 years. He holds a B.A. degree in Finance from Villanova University and an M.B.A from Saint Joseph’s University.