RANI GUPTA | Age: 41 Insurance recovery partner

Covington & Burling LLP

Palo Alto, California

Rani Gupta, who grew up in Chicago, had planned to be a journalist, but she became interested in law while working for a nonprofit organization that did legal work for journalists. She graduated from Stanford Law School and has spent her entire professional career at Covington & Burling.

What’s your advice on navigating the current insurance market?

It’s important for policyholders to be looking at the risks that may lie ahead and trying to make sure that there are not any gaps, because the market changes so quickly, and the insurance policies can evolve so quickly. I think we see that sometimes people are making a short-term decision for premium, but they may regret it later on when they’re trying to recover the money.

How are technological advances affecting your job?

It’s certainly changed what we do in terms of remote litigation and arbitration, so I have much less of the 6 a.m. flight to a case management conference and much more in terms of remote hearings and the like.

What’s a problem that needs fixing in your sector?

In terms of law, finding the right balance as to remote and in person is difficult.

What do you wish more people knew about insurance?

Basically, there’s an insurance component to every case, so when there’s a big kind of new or novel issue in the law, there’s oftentimes a new and novel insurance claim being litigated or fought against right alongside it.

What’s something about you that would surprise people?

I’m really organized in my professional life and kind of on the ball, but in my personal life I’m constantly losing my keys.

Favorite hobby or pastime?

If I have free time, I like to spend it with my kids and playing basketball with my sons.