Schnader’s Insurance Services Group is represented in each of our offices around the United States. The Group includes International Academy of Trial Lawyers and American College of Trial Lawyers Fellows, and lawyers listed in Super Lawyers and The Best Lawyers in America. Our lawyers are active members in insurance law organizations such as the Defense Research Institute, the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance, and the Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc., and we are frequent speakers and writers on insurance law issues. Our services include insurance coverage counseling and litigation, insurance defense, and subrogation recovery.
Insurance Coverage
Schnader attorneys handle insurance coverage disputes involving many types of insurance, both third-party (e.g., commercial general liability, excess and umbrella, professional liability, directors and officers, and employment liability) and first-party (e.g., property, life, and disability) coverages. Given the cross-specialization of many of our attorneys, we have a significant advantage in handling legal issues involving specialized insurance, such as aerospace, environmental, financial institutions, professional errors and omissions, health, employment-related practices, products/completed operations coverages, and international insurance programs. We are experienced in handling disputes concerning the propriety of claims-handling and allegations of extracontractual or bad faith liability.
We are frequently called upon to advise and counsel clients with difficult coverage issues, draft policy language, deal with regulators, and negotiate the resolution of claims with adverse parties or coinsurers. Schnader attorneys have a demonstrated record of success in the negotiation process and, where necessary, mediation, arbitration, and trials. Our senior lawyers are well-versed in most aspects of insurance coverage law, and we provide hands-on involvement throughout the course of every engagement.
We work closely with our clients to predict and control costs. We are willing and able to work with clients to establish appropriate budgets. Our approach involves preparation, evaluation, and disposition of matters as expeditiously as possible, with cost-effectiveness a priority we share with our clients. At the same time, we make every effort to employ creative approaches to problem-solving.
We involve our clients in the decision-making process at every stage and keep them fully apprised of their risks, options, and potential expenses with regular, detailed reporting.
Insurance Defense
Schnader attorneys are regularly appointed to defend insureds against potentially covered claims. These claims regularly arise out of property and casualty exposures, including products liability, personal injury, property damage, fire losses, water damage, worksite accidents, automobile, aviation and aerospace, civil rights, construction, defamation, directors and officers, nonprofit organizations, and toxic tort. Several of our attorneys are well-experienced in the provision of counsel to London Market insurers and other first-party carriers confronting high-exposure property damage losses.
Many of Schnader’s lawyers came to the law as a second career, bringing with them unique skills and experience that ideally suit them for particular types of defense work. Our lawyers include a professional engineer, registered architect, air traffic controller, flight instructor, Air Force transport command pilot, clinical psychologists, and a Scotland Yard detective inspector.
Our Attorneys
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News & Publications
- 2022 Harrison Awards for Pro Bono and Community Service
- Schnader receives rankings in the 2023 edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”
- Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Named
- Statute of Limitations in Legal Malpractice Claims – Continuous Relationship versus Continuous Representation
- PA Supreme Court Holds Online Defamation Cases Can Be Brought Almost Anywhere In Pennsylvania
- Karen Baillie, Jonathan Skowron and Keith Whitson Certified as “Ally-Ready” by Pittsburgh Legal Diversity & Inclusion Coalition
- Benchmark Litigation Recommends Schnader
- New York Super Lawyers Named
- It’s a New Game: Pennsylvania Statute Adopted on College Athlete Compensation for Name, Image and Likeness
- Supreme Court Protects First Amendment Rights for Students’ Off-Campus Speech
- Keith Whitson Interviewed on KDKA-TV about Allegheny County Bar Foundation
- Keith Whitson to be Named President of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation
- Schnader Attorneys Named to Pennsylvania Super Lawyers List
- DRI’s Aviation Wingtips Podcast Interview with NTSB’s Ted Dunlap
- Allegheny County Bar Foundation’s Endowment Campaign – Join the path of a leader
- Jonathan Skowron Publishes Article in 2020 Professional Liability Defense Survey of Law
- Pa. High Court Rejects ‘Continuous Representation Rule’ for Legal Malpractice Actions
- New York Super Lawyers Named
- Schnader Files Class Action Lawsuit to Address Systemic Mental Health Care Failures at Allegheny County Jail
- Law That Saves Lives
- Litigation and Legislative Efforts to Implicate Insurance for COVID-19 Losses
- Samuel Silver elected president of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project board of directors
- Schnader’s Aviation Group Recognized in Who’s Who Legal: Transport 2020
- NY Super Lawyers Named
- Schnader Leads the Implementation of Model Career Advocate Programs for the Pittsburgh Legal Diversity & Inclusion Coalition
- Benchmark Litigation Recommends Schnader
- Schnader Attorneys Named to NY Super Lawyers
- Schnader Harrison Helps Train Youth Court Judges
- Benchmark Litigation Recommends Schnader
- Schnader Attorneys Named to Super Lawyers 2017
- Keith Whitson Appointed Managing Partner of the Pittsburgh Office
- Schnader Welcomes New Associates
- Benchmark Litigation Recommends Schnader
- Many Schnader Attorneys Named to Super Lawyers 2016
- Settling Defendants Beware: Eleventh Circuit Holds Settling Insurer Liable for Failure to Protect Medicare Payments Made by Private Insurer
- Sam Silver Inducted into International Academy of Trial Lawyers
- Products Liability Cases Arising From Holiday Fires
- Schnader Litigation Practices and Attorneys Recognized in the 2016 Benchmark Litigation Guide
- Pennsylvania Permits Insureds Being Defended under a Reservation of Rights to Settle Without Their Insurer’s Consent
- Al Dandridge Receives Veterans of Influence Awards
- “Takeaways From NY’s Dietary Supplement Investigation”
- PA Supreme Court Declines to Extend Multiple Trigger Theory to Property Damage Claims
- NTSB Overturns Administrative Law Judge Decision and Holds That Federal Aviation Regulation 91.13 (Careless or Reckless Operation) Applies to Unmanned Aircraft Systems
- Super Lawyers Recognizes Many Schnader Attorneys in 2014
- Reading the Tea Leaves: The Supreme Court Seems Likely to Eliminate the ERISA Presumption of Prudence
- Seventh Circuit Addresses When Offer of Settlement Can Moot Class Representative’s Interest; Holds That Dunning Letter Offering to “Settle” an Unenforceable Debt Violates FDCPA
- Schnader Ranked as “Highly Recommended” in the 2014 Benchmark Litigation Guide
- Super Lawyers Recognizes Many Schnader Attorneys in 2013
- Schnader Attorneys Recognized as Members of the 2012 Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll
- Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP on Shortlist for Northeast Appellate Firm of the Year and Pennsylvania Firm of the Year
- Schnader’s Cherry Hill Office Collects Nearly a Half a Ton of Winter Clothes on Behalf of Big Brothers Big Sisters
- Schnader Ranked as “Highly Recommended” in the 2013 Benchmark Litigation and Appellate Guides
- Super Lawyers Recognizes Many Schnader Attorneys in 2012
- U.S. Supreme Court Upholds the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
- Schnader Ranked as “Highly Recommended” in the 2012 Benchmark Litigation and Appellate Guides
- Schnader Attorneys Achieve Significant Victory for Surety Client Federal Insurance Company
- Schnader Representing the State of Maryland and The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania in a Suit Filed Against the Federal Government Regarding a 2008 Medevac Crash
- Schnader Ranked as “Highly Recommended” in the 2011 Benchmark Litigation Guide
- “Third Circuit Requires Plaintiffs to Prove Causal Link and Breach of Duty in Deepening Insolvency Cases” part 2
- New Mandatory Reporting Requirements Affect Companies Who Pay Money to Resolve Personal Injury Claims
- “Commercial Aircraft Transactions: Liability of Owners, Lessors and Finance Parties”
- “Daubert’s Unwritten Mandate: Win in the District Court”
- “The State-of-the-Art Defense in Product Liability Cases: A Fifty State Survey [California Treatment]”
Related Events
- Arbitration Practice in Allegheny and Surrounding Counties
- Keeping the Focus on the Endgame: Overcoming Litigation Challenges by Fully Embracing the Tasks Ahead
- Risk Transfer for Construction Defect Claims: Minimizing and Allocating Costs of Defense and Indemnity
- Raymond Hunter Speaks at the Winter Meeting of the Keystone State Railroad Association
- Asylum Law for Non-Immigration Lawyers
- Whitson Spoke on Advanced Issues in Civil Practice and Procedure