The “Federation” Swoops in to Defend Professionals

Louie H. Castoria
Co-Managing Partner – San Francisco Office
Co-Chair, Professional Liability/E&O Practice Group

Fifty-one years after getting hooked on “Star Trek,” I became a Director of the Federation.

Along Chicago’s Riverwalk the Professional Liability Defense Federation held its ninth annual meeting last week. The still-young organization has grown to 500 members, a mix of professional liability insurance claims executives and leading defense firms throughout the country, from Florida to Alaska, New York to San Francisco.

The event explored defense legal and management issues and strategies in all the traditional professions—medical, legal, insurance, design, securities, real estate, etc.—and identified trends that influence liability risks across the board, such as ADR, jury selection, misuse of social media, and changes in immigration policy.

Tim Gephart, outgoing PLDF President, and Vice President of Claims at Minnesota Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company, yielded the gavel to incoming President, Erin Higgins of the Boston law firm Conn Kavanaugh Rosenthal Peisch & Ford, LLP. With transition on the agenda and in the air, three new members were elected to PLDF’s Board of Directors:

• Erin Risch of Eccleston and Wolf, P.C., based in Hanover, Md.,
• Kathleen Buck, a Senior Claims Consultant at XL Catlin, Atlanta, and
• Yours Truly, Co-Chair of Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck, LLP’s national Professional Liability Practice Group, and of its San Francisco office

Along with first-class continuing legal education events and outstanding networking opportunities, PLDF affords members a wealth on online resources. These include its national network of claims and defense experts, who discuss developments and tactics in a free-flowing, collaborative forum.

PLDF’s 2018 annual meeting will boldly go where it has never gone before: New Orleans, on October 3 through 5, 2018. Mark the dates, and please visit www.pldf.org to learn more about the “Federation,” or, if you prefer, give me a call at (415) 926-7683.

Tim Gephart, VP Claims at Minnesota Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company, and President Emeritus of the Professional Liability Defense Federation and Louie Castoria