Covington & Burling LLP has been involved in a host of high-profile insurance recovery cases over the past few years, including several related to losses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Much of the work they do is for clients that are household names such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Walt Disney Co. and the National Football League.

“We have over 100 lawyers in the insurance practice,” said Ben Lenhart, Washington-based partner and co-chair of the firm’s insurance recovery practice. That includes 23 partners dedicated to insurance coverage work, another 20 who act as counsel and more than 60 associates.

The firm has recovered more than $20 billion for policyholders in the last 35 years, Mr. Lenhart said. 

“We only work for policyholders, which are generally large companies,” Mr. Lenhart said. The firm, which has its largest office in Washington and significant operations in other cities, is at any given time handling 300 to 400 coverage matters, he said. 

About 10% of those cases involve litigation or arbitration, according to Mr. Lenhart. “The other 90% generally never go to court; they get resolved through settlements,” he said. “A small settlement would be $5 million or $10 million, and large settlements are hundreds of millions of dollars.”

General liability cases, directors and officers liability claims and, increasingly, cyber-related disputes make up much of the firm’s work, Mr. Lenhart said. 

Disputes arising from the COVID-19 pandemic have kept the firm busy with cases, including Major League Baseball’s billion-dollar claim against its underwriters.

Covington & Burling handles Walt Disney Co.’s case against insurers over hundreds of millions of dollars in losses on more than 200 media productions that were hit by the pandemic. And the firm represents the National Hockey League in a case seeking recovery of more than $1 billion in pandemic-related losses from its property and business interruption insurers. 

“We represent Merck in the largest cyber claim in history,” Mr. Lenhart said, and Exxon Mobil in its $1 billion case coverage related to a gasoline additive, which he cited as two of its most prominent and challenging cases.

The firm’s success is partly down to its ability to recruit “some of the best and the brightest” and retain them, Mr. Lenhart said. “In the last 20 years we have not had a single insurance partner leave for a competitor. That is a remarkable fact,” he said. 

FINALISTS

• Anderson Kill P.C. — The firm’s insurance recovery attorneys have recovered billions in judgments and settlements for policyholders over the course of nearly four decades.

• Bailey Cavalieri LLC — The firm  offers diverse and practical services to insurers in connection with directors and officers liability insurance and related products. 

• Blank Rome LLP — The firm’s insurance recovery practice works with policyholders across industries and has recovered billions, including in landmark rulings.

• Pasich LLP — The boutique firm focuses on high-value, high-profile, complex insurance recovery and litigation.