Doug is a former member of Reed Smith’s Senior Management Team serving for nearly a decade as global chair of the firm’s litigation department; as managing partner, Americas; and most recently, as global head of legal personnel. He also served for over 13 years as the practice group leader for the firm's internationally recognized Insurance Recovery Group and was a member of the firm's Executive Committee for 15 years. He also was bestowed the firm's Shaw's Lion Award given annually by Reed Smith to the firm’s most outstanding lawyer.
Since 1985, Doug has devoted a significant amount of his practice to representing policyholders in insurance coverage matters under virtually every type of commercial insurance policy. In particular, Doug has counseled on, negotiated, mediated and litigated complex insurance coverage disputes for commercial policyholders involving coverage for toxic torts and product liability claims (including asbestos exposures), environmental contamination, intellectual property and general business torts, as well as claims involving Directors & Officers, Errors and Omissions, professional liability, and employment liability insurance coverage.
As a result of multiple mortgage insurers walking away from billions of dollars in coverage obligations during the foreclosure crisis of 2009, Doug, along with several Reed Smith Insurance Recovery Group partners, was retained by several large financial institutions to represent them in litigation, arbitrations and negotiations regarding the mortgage-related insurance issues that followed.
Doug has advised and represented clients in substantial insurance coverage disputes in state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout the country, including Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Ohio, and in various arbitrations and alternative dispute resolutions. On behalf of his clients, Doug has negotiated, mediated and litigated coverage disputes resulting in the recovery of more than $2 billion in insurance policy proceeds.
Doug also has had significant experience litigating complex commercial cases, including products liability (including several substantial trials involving asbestos-containing building products), trade secrets/restrictive covenant and intellectual property cases. He has advised and represented clients in complex commercial litigation in state and federal courts in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Vermont, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Kentucky, Washington and West Virginia.
