Insurance 

A&O Shearman acts as a strategic advisor to many of the world's largest insurers and reinsurers, insurance intermediaries, insurtechs, investors in the insurance sector, and those who transact with them.

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Our lawyers have extensive industry experience, with many having sector, regulatory, or underwriting backgrounds.

We combine policy insight with effective execution and have a long history of creating solutions for our clients' most complex issues.

Our capital markets lawyers handle all aspects of insurance-related financings from regulatory capital deals to longevity risk transactions, transformer and reverse transformer structures, asset/liability management transactions, catastrophe bonds, and CDO/securitization deals.

Top-tier insurance M&A and regulatory advice 

Our insurance team comprises top-tier corporate and M&A lawyers who work on our clients' biggest M&A transactions and corporate reorganizations. We are regularly involved in the sale and purchase of non-life and life insurance operations and insurance portfolio transfers, the sale and acquisition of insurance intermediaries, and investments in insurtechs.  

We have particular expertise in transactions involving private capital, funds, and non-traditional providers of capital to the insurance sector.

We are market leaders in reinsurance transactions and all forms of insurance risk transfer, including longevity risk and groundbreaking pension scheme liability transfer deals. 

Our regulatory expertise covers the full range of issues, from licensing to governance, solvency, regulatory engagement, investigations, and enforcement actions. We also act for governments, trade associations and regulators to help shape the rules that govern insurance markets, including Solvency II, the European Union’s prudential regime. 

Deep expertise in key insurance jurisdictions

In London we are a leading authority on the Lloyd's market, advising on derivatives and other risk transfer instruments, reinsurance, and regulatory issues around Lloyd's trust funds and the Lloyd's chain of security.

We act for Lloyd's market participants as well as counterparties such as investment banks, and in various Continental European jurisdictions we are renowned for developing industry solutions that require a combination of corporate law, capital markets and regulatory expertise as well as an understanding of actuarial issues.

Our global disputes team represents insurers and reinsurers on complex claims, as well as defending litigation against corporations and their directors insured under all types of liability policies.

Our network spans key markets in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, giving us the strength to handle international transactions and multijurisdictional matters as well as the biggest cross-border disputes. We are world leaders in the use of arbitration, typically the preferred form of dispute resolution in insurance policies.

We frequently advise on cases involving catastrophic loss, difficult coverage and loss allocation issues, as well as professional liability, product liability, environmental, D&O, credit insurance, crime policies, regulatory risk, political risk, construction risks and business interruption, warranty and indemnity insurance, and distressed captives and insolvent insurers.

Meet our team

Our lawyers have the skills and experience to handle our clients' most complex challenges. Meet them below.