Miller Friel 2015 Anniversary Newsletter
Miller Friel was founded with the bold ambition of becoming the premier insurance recovery law firm in the nation. The idea emerged at a time when the Nation was in the midst of a serious depression. General Motors and Chrysler had filed for bankruptcy. Occupy Wall Street protestors were everywhere. Despite these distractions, we realized that something else was wrong. Like the economy, the state-of-the-art model for delivering insurance recovery legal work was broken.
The highest quality lawyers were practicing at the Nation’s premier law firms, and those premier law firms were beholden to the insurance industry by virtue of the fact that a large amount of complex commercial litigation is funded by insurers. When it came to insurance issues, insurance recovery lawyers at the larger firms simply were finding it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to zealously represent corporate policyholder interests. In some cases, insurance recovery lawyers could negotiate, but not file suit. In others, they could file suit, but not assert bad faith. In still others, they could file whatever they wanted, so long as they had approval from the insurance carrier beforehand. Due to factors beyond their control, many of the best insurance recovery lawyers in the world were forced to litigate and negotiate with their hands tied behind their backs.
To make matters worse, certain insurance companies were notorious for changing the rules pertaining to what their stable of law firms could and could not do with respect to claims brought against them. There was no certainty as to what could be done, and the insurance-company mandated rules had become so complex that even the best law firms could not know with certainty what they could and could not do with respect to claims against insurance companies.
Miller Friel was formed with the idea that there was a better way. Our vision was simple. Put together a group of premier former large-firm insurance recovery lawyers in a setting where they exclusively practiced insurance recovery law. See Insurance Recovery Specialists. We united some of the most experienced former large-firm insurance coverage lawyers in the world in a setting that allows everyone to be responsive, nimble, resourceful and efficient. Unlike other firms, our sole and exclusive Focus was to help corporate clients maximize their insurance coverage. Extensive Experience in the area of insurance law, we believed, would lead to greater efficiency, lower costs, and better Results.
Extraordinary results did in fact follow. When Miller Friel was formed, we were on the verge of taking AIG to trial in a significant bad faith insurance recovery case on behalf of a major energy company. To AIG’s dismay, we took the case to trial and hit them with a judgment for bad faith and punitive damages in an amount of almost three times policy limits. See CIG v. National Union Judgment. Because AIG panel counsel rules strictly prohibit panel counsel firms from pursuing bad faith cases against them, this kind of result would not have been possible for partners at the vast majority of premier large law firms to achieve. See AIG Panel Counsel List; Where Have All of the Insurance Lawyers Gone.
This single result confirmed to us that not only can Focus and Experience lead to exceptional Results, but that the converse is also true, namely, that you cannot expect exceptional Results without having the requisite Focus and Experience to generate those Results.
One of our public company technology clients put it best, saying that, by working with Miller Friel, they were able not only to “self-fund all outside counsel fees” but were also able to contribute a “notable percentage of dollars . . . to the company’s [year end employee] bonus pool.” The prospect of turning in house legal departments from cost centers to revenue generating business units is more than a powerful concept; it can be life changing for those select in-house lawyers who recognize and seize on this opportunity.
Although the old model was and remains broken, Miller Friel’s approach for delivering insurance recovery legal services to corporate America has proven itself time and time again. We have an unblemished record of recovering in every single matter that they have undertaken. See Insurance Recovery Law Firm With 100% Record of Success.
Unlike other law firms, we do not do many things well. We do one thing extremely well. Miller Friel attorneys handle some of the most significant insurance recovery cases in the country. Our lawyers have been entrusted to handle matters ranging from the largest property damage claim in the country, to securing defense costs for one of the largest securities fraud cases ever filed. We are honored to represent some of the world’s better-known retail, manufacturing, transportation, technology, commercial real-estate, entertainment, and service sector companies.
Please keep us in mind if you have a corporate insurance claim. That is what we do best, and we look forward to hearing from you.