Upcoming Massachusetts Reinsurance Symposium
The Massachusetts Reinsurance Bar Association (MReBA), of which I am the Secretary, is hosting its third annual claims symposium at the Harvard Club in Boston. Registration is $150 for industry people and $250 for others. To register, go to the MReBA web site: www.mreba.org
This year's keynote speaker will be Tracey Laws, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Reinsurance Association of America. She will focus her remarks on the current regulatory climate in which all of us conduct business.
The focus of this year's symposium will be on communications, relationships and privilege issues. In the wake of last year's Regence debacle, there is great urgency to finding ways to preserve traditional means of communication, auditing and claims association without imperilling the cedent's defenses by forfeiting attorney-client privileges.
The symposium will feature three panels where outside counsel and senior industry claims people will discuss:
1. Protecting Attorney-Client Privilege in Communications Among Cedents and Reinsurers
This panel will explore the balance between a reinsurer’s need for information about an underlying claim and the risks of losing attorney-client privilege when information is conveyed to a reinsurer.
2. “Right of Association” and “Claims Control” Clauses
This panel of MReBA members will address the contractual wordings that govern the relative rights and responsibilities of cedents and reinsurers in handling underlying claims, including the practical realities of sharing responsibility for the resolution of those claims.
3. Interactive Workshop
This year the audience participation part of our program challenges you to find solutions to the thorny issues presented by our first two panels. We look forward to your input on improving the working relationship between cedents and reinsurers when difficult problems arise in underlying claims.
The symposium will conclude with remarks from David Brummond, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Senior Sanctions Advisor on OFAC who will discuss emerging regulatory trends and the growing role of the federal government as an insurance rulemaker.
I hope to see many of you there!
