Insurance Attorney Named New Head Of Covington's SF Office
April 26, 2023, Law360
Gretchen Hoff Varner was highlighted by Law360 regarding her new role as the managing partner of Covington’s San Francisco office.
"We've steadily grown over the course of the 20 or so years that we've been in San Francisco," Gretchen said. "We've found that our unique practice mix is exceptionally well suited to meet the needs of Bay Area clients and California clients more generally," adding that Covington represents four of the five largest technology companies in the world.
"Insurance coverage has been a really important part of the Covington practice mix, particularly in San Francisco, for a long time. We have the world's largest and most prominent policyholder-side practice on insurance coverage issues," Gretchen said. "So it's exciting as an insurance coverage lawyer to step into the leadership of an office that has so many talented insurance coverage lawyers."
Gretchen told Law360 that she ended up practicing insurance law after falling in love with trial work, including a pro bono suit challenging New York City's stop-and-frisk policing strategy. "At Covington, our insurance practice takes cases to trial all the time, and so I came to insurance in part because of how much I loved being in the courtroom," she said. "It was a place that gave me an opportunity to really develop my trial skills, talk to juries, talk to judges, and it's work that I just really love."
"My goal is to make sure that we are opening doors and supporting our young lawyers, particularly diverse lawyers and women, so that they can become the future of Covington," Gretchen said about her goal as managing partner. "They are the next generation of trial superstars and of corporate deal-makers, and part of our job is to make sure that they are getting the support and the investment that they need to become the best lawyers that they can be."
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