Bert Wells is a partner in the New York office of Covington and Burling LLP, where his practice is devoted to representing policyholders in insurance coverage matters as part of the firm's highly recognized global insurance recovery practice. He advises clients about cutting-edge insurance coverage issues, including cyber insurance. His work spans litigation matters, non-litigated coverage disputes and claims, and insurance advisory matters, including complex policy renewal negotiations. He also counsels clients and negotiates for them in merger and acquisition and other types of transactions.
In addition to litigating disputed matters, Bert has settled numerous high-value claims through negotiation, both before and after commencing litigation. His approach to advisory and transactional matters is informed by his broad experience with a wide range of lines of coverage and the practical reality of completing insurance recoveries.
Bert is a leading cyber insurance lawyer. For many years he has advocated for clients in disputes over recovery of cyber insurance claims, procurement and renewal of cyber insurance policies, and in engagements involving the interplay between cyber insurance and information technology transactions, such as outsourcing and cloud computing agreements. Bert also brings unique expertise to his cyber insurance practice including experience in complex information technology transactions and as a research mathematician in academia and industry. He was also tapped by Lexis-Nexis to serve as the lead author of the first-ever chapter on cyber insurance published in one of its leading online treatises.
Bert’s substantive experience includes mass tort, catastrophic loss, ransomware, privacy and other cyber losses (as just noted); directors and officers liability (D&O) and professional liability (E&O) claims; environmental, product liability, asbestos, business interruption, property damage and employment-related claims; fiduciary (retirement and benefit plan) coverage; mortgage guarantee insurance; representation and warranty insurance; crime and theft coverage and punitive damages coverage.
Clients Bert has served include some of the largest institutions in the investment banking, fund management, private equity, consumer credit and other financial industry sectors; industrial corporations such as United Technologies Corporation, LafargeHolcim, ITT, LyondellBasell and Uniroyal Holding; transportation stalwarts such as American Airlines and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA); consumer products industry leaders including PepsiCo and Bacardi; biotech and pharmaceutical industry clients; and cultural and educational institutions including New York University and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Among his achievements have been representing the MTA in its recovery of approximately $700 million of coverage for business interruption and property damage losses sustained from Superstorm Sandy; achieving a nine-figure recovery for a regional bank in wellsa mortgage guarantee insurance matter; and obtaining hundreds of millions of dollars in coverage for clients in a wide range of other claims.
Bert’s pro bono engagements have included representations of United Policyholders, the National Academies of Science, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Safe Water Network, as well as ACLU of Ohio in connection with its challenge to Ohio’s 2011 Congressional redistricting.
Bert was a member of the New York City Bar Association Insurance Law Committee from 2011 to 2016, the chair of the Information Technology Law Committee from 1998 to 2001, and a member of that Committee from 1994 to 2001. He has been recognized by Best Lawyers (2009-2020) and Super Lawyers (New York Metro 2006-2008, 2012-2017).
Bert is admitted to the New York Bar and the U.S. Patent Bar. He is a graduate of the Yale Law School (J.D., 1987), the Oxford University (D.Phil. (Ph.D.) Mathematics, 1982) and The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) (B.S., M.S., 1978).
Bert is a member of Covington’s Insurance Practice Group. According to legal rating guides published by Chambers, The Legal 500, and Benchmark Litigation, Covington alone has the top-ranked policyholder practice in the U.S. as well as one of the leading practices in the UK. For more than a decade, Covington has been the only law firm ranked in “Band 1” by Chambers USA in its policyholder category. The firm has also been awarded the “Chambers Award for Excellence” in policyholder-side insurance a numerous times over since the awards’ inception. The Legal 500 has written that “clients and peers agree that ‘there is no comparison’ and its practice is ‘truly best in class.’” The firm has achieved coverage victories in trial and appellate courts, as well as domestic and international arbitrations. Covington also has a leading negotiation practice in the U.S. and abroad, helping policyholders reach business resolutions with their insurers both in direct negotiations and in mediations. And a significant portion of the practice involves advising clients as to how best to position themselves for future coverage disputes or to avoid such disputes altogether. The firm has experienced policyholder coverage lawyers practicing in our London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington offices.
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