For more than 30 years, Jim has advised on some of the largest mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, reinsurance transactions and corporate restructurings in the insurance industry. Jim has represented industry-leading companies, their boards of directors and senior executive management on the full range of insurance transactional, corporate and regulatory matters, including transformative company sales, mergers and acquisitions, complex corporate restructurings, strategic reviews of insurance businesses in contemplation of a potential merger, sale or repositioning, establishing international insurance underwriting and marketing facilities, the disposition of blocks of business and operating divisions by reinsurance, surplus maintenance reinsurance transactions, financings and securitizations, business transition and renewal rights transactions, Insurtech roll-outs of digital marketing and underwriting platforms across multiple states, administrative services agreements, collateral protection arrangements, insurance holding company act transactions and compliance, corporate governance and general corporate matters and related regulatory and judicial proceedings. Throughout his career, Jim has continuously been recognized by numerous organizations as a leading practitioner in the US and internationally for his work on insurance transactional, regulatory and financing matters.
View representative matters and detailed experience .
Awards and Rankings
“Jim is adept at identifying transactional risks and negotiating to get the best deal for his client.” - From Chambers USA 2018
Recognized by Chambers USA: Guide to Leading Business Lawyers in the area of Insurance Transactional and Regulatory
Named to The Best Lawyers in America for Insurance Law
Named to The Best Lawyers in New York
Selected for inclusion in New York Super Lawyers in the area of Mergers and Acquisitions
Recognized by The Legal 500 United States as a “Leading Lawyer” in insurance: non-contentious
Recognized by The Legal 500 United States in the area of insurance: non-contentious; and mergers and acquisitions: middle-market
Recognized by Expert Guides in the area of insurance and reinsurance
Named to The International Who’s Who of Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers
Named a Leading Lawyer in Illinois for Insurance, Mergers and Acquisitions and Reinsurance Law
Experience
“Jim is our go-to lawyer for U.S. insurance company M&A activity. He is a cut above the rest.” - From Chambers USA 2019
Experience
Advised Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company on a joint venture transaction with Generali, one of the largest international insurance and asset management providers headquartered in Italy.
Advised Ohio National Life Insurance Company and its Board of Directors on a comprehensive strategic review and resulting publicly-announced repositioning plan involving the company’s US life and annuity businesses and international operations.
Represented Symetra Life Insurance Company on its off-shore reinsurance of approximately $5.8 billion of structured settlement and income annuity product reserve liabilities to Resolution Re, Ltd.
Represented Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company on its acquisition of Jefferson National Financial Corporation and its subsidiaries
Advised EXOR S.p.A as global insurance transactional and regulatory counsel on its $6.8 billion contested acquisition of PartnerRe Group, which was recognized by The American Lawyer as 2016 M&A Deal of the Year: Offshore.
Represented Munich Re Group on its sale of Munich Re Stop Loss, Inc. to TMS Re, LLC.
Represented Aflac Inc. as US insurance transactions and regulatory counsel on the conversion of its Japanese insurance business branch operation and the related restructuring of Aflac’s US and Japanese insurance businesses.
Advised Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc, a leading international insurance group, on structuring a global insurance program to enable the company’s multinational corporate customers to obtain commercial insurance coverage throughout the US.
Represented Watford Specialty Insurance Company on a stock acquisition and related bulk reinsurance transaction.
Facilitated Wilton Reassurance Company's $240-million-plus acquisition of Conseco Life Insurance Company and related reinsurance recapture transaction.
Advised Genworth Financial, Inc. on multiple finance, reinsurance and administrative services transactions.
Represented Voya Financial Inc. on a reinsurance transaction representing the transfer of approximately $100 billion of in force term life business.
Advised a leading US insurance group on a confidential restructuring initiative.
Advised AEGON NV on its $1.4 billion reinsurance business sale.
Advised the Board of Directors on FBL Financial Group's $471 million insurance company sale.
Represented Munich Re Group on its $747 million acquisition of The Hartford Steam Boiler Group from AIG.
Represented Lincoln National Corporation on its $7.5 billion merger with Jefferson-Pilot Financial Corporation.
Advised Munich Re Group on its $1.3 billion acquisition of The Midland Company.
Represented Hanover Insurance Group on its insurance company sale to Commonwealth Annuity and Life Insurance Company.
Represented Hartford Life Insurance Company on a series of major insurance business acquisitions.
Advised Aurora National Life Assurance Company on the reinsurance of $3 billion of life and annuity reserve liabilities.
News
A super knowledgeable transactional lawyer. He has strong negotiation skills; he sees the important issues.” - From Chambers USA 2018
Press Releases
24 Eversheds Sutherland Practice Areas, 63 Attorneys Named Among Nation’s Best in 2020 Chambers USA (April 23, 2020)
Eversheds Sutherland is pleased to announce that 24 practices and 63 attorneys have earned recognition in the 2020 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Chambers USA, a ...
19 Eversheds Sutherland Practice Areas, 87 Attorneys Named Among Nation’s Best in 2019 Legal 500 United States (June 10, 2019)
Eversheds Sutherland is pleased to announce that 19 practice areas and 87 attorneys have been recognized in the 2019 edition of The Legal 500 United States, a comprehensive survey of legal service ...
19 Eversheds Sutherland Practice Areas, 55 Attorneys Named Among Nation’s Best in 2019 Chambers USA (April 25, 2019)
Eversheds Sutherland is pleased to announce that 19 practices and 55 attorneys have earned recognition in the 2019 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Chambers USA, a ...
Seven Eversheds Sutherland Attorneys Named 2018 New York Metro Super Lawyers and Rising Stars (September 13, 2018)
NEW YORK-Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP is pleased to announce that six attorneys based in New York City have been selected as top attorneys in the state by Super Lawyers. Additionally, one attorney ...
18 Eversheds Sutherland Practice Areas, 68 Attorneys Named Among Nation’s Best in 2018 Legal 500 United States (May 30, 2018)
Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP is pleased to announce that 18 practice areas and 68 attorneys have been recognized in the 2018 edition of The Legal 500 United States, a comprehensive survey of legal ...
19 Eversheds Sutherland Practice Areas, 59 Attorneys Named Among Nation’s Best in 2018 Chambers USA (May 3, 2018)
Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP is pleased to announce that 19 practices and 59 attorneys have earned recognition in the 2018 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Chambers ...
Five Eversheds Sutherland Colleagues Recognized Among Leading Insurance and Reinsurance Attorneys in the World (December 18, 2017)
Eversheds Sutherland is pleased to announce that five colleagues have been recognized among the best legal practitioners in the world in the Who’s Who Legal Insurance and Reinsurance list for 2018. ...
Nine Eversheds Sutherland Attorneys Named 2017 New York Metro Super Lawyers and Rising Stars (September 20, 2017)
NEW YORK-Eversheds Sutherland is pleased to announce that five attorneys based in New York City have been selected as top attorneys in the state by Super Lawyers . Additionally, four attorneys have ...
16 Eversheds Sutherland Partners Named Among the Best in the World by Expert Guides (September 8, 2017)
Eversheds Sutherland is pleased to announce that 16 partners have been selected by Expert Guides as among the best legal practitioners in the world in their respective practice areas. Published by ...
Four Eversheds Sutherland Attorneys Named Lawyer of the Year; 80 Lawyers Recognized in 2018 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America (August 15, 2017)
Eversheds Sutherland is pleased to announce that four attorneys have been selected as “Lawyer of the Year” in their respective fields by The Best Lawyers in America, and 80 attorneys have been ...
Presentations
“He is expert in our business and adept at translating legal concepts into advice our executives can act on.” - From Chambers USA 2019
Presentations
Business Unit Acquisitions and Dispositions via Reinsurance: Selected Deal Points and Issues (January 2017)
Overview of the Various Forms of Insurance Companies (2014)
CLE Presentation
Hot Topics Affecting the Insurance Industry (August 2013, CLE Presentation)
Life Insurance Reserve Financing and Capital Management Transactions (2013)
Business Unit Acquisitions and Dispositions via Reinsurance: Selected Deal Points and Issues (2013)
CLE Presentation
Recent Regulatory Reform Developments (2013)
CLE Presentation
Insurance Companies: Transaction Structures and Selected Deal Points (2012)
ACLI Annual Meeting
Material Adverse Change Clauses: Current Deal and Enforcement Trends (2009)
Acquiring Business by Reinsurance and Reinsurance Credit Rules (2007)
ACI’s Second National Forum on Reinsurance Agreements (2006)
