Expert Details
Insurance: Bad Faith, Claims, Litigation Management, Coverage, Law, UM/UIM, Legal Best Practices & Spend Management
ID: 737892
Florida, USA
Expert began her career in Chicago, where she spent ten years trying insurance cases both in private practice and as part of the legal department of two major insurance companies and the Chicago Transit Authority. In 2005, she moved to Arizona, where she spent the next three years handling insurance cases in private practice and as part of a major insurance company's legal department.
In 2008, Expert transitioned from the practice of law to litigation management when she became the Director of Litigation for Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. She oversaw, directed, and managed all corporate & claim litigation to which the company was a party, including 7,000 individual lawsuits arising out of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and four class actions with exposure greater than $1B. She managed outside counsel and other legal vendors. Expert created processes and standards for hiring and auditing outside counsel performance. She led a personally chosen five-person Legal Operations Department team. Expert reported to the Chief Operating Officer and Board of Directors regarding litigation strategy, resolution opportunities, legal costs, budget compliance, outside counsel efficiency & effectiveness, and long-term strategic planning for claim and litigation management. She testified multiple times at both trials and contested hearings as part of her duties. Expert became an expert in bad faith law, good faith claim handling, and litigation management through this experience.
In 2011, Expert moved to the insurance world's corporate side, working as Corporate Counsel for a large, super-regional insurance carrier in Jacksonville, Florida. In this position, she advised Main Street General Counsel and senior executives on legal, insurance, and contractual issues, including underwriting, claims, state insurance laws, and regulations and drafted, negotiated, and managed company contracts. She oversaw all corporate litigation, including outside counsel and vendor management, appeared as a company representative in legal matters, and reviewed/approved legal bills. She also oversaw the completion of annual Conflict of Interest process and prepared corporate governance documents for quarterly Board of Directors and Board Committee meetings.
In 2013, Expert founded and was CEO of an insurance coverage, bad faith, claim and litigation management, legal operations, and legal spend management company. In 2014, she founded, developed, and grew the company's Legal Bill Review business line as part of the Legal Operations Group. She developed all processes, procedures, standards, and training for the business line in this position. Expert's responsibilities included achieving all business line financial targets, including revenue, margin, and cost budgets. She worked with the Sales Team to prepare proposals, responses to RFPs, statements of work, and pricing for new customers. Expert implemented all new bill review customers, including designing the solution, creating project plans, change management, and project management. Expert further managed customer relationships, functioned as an escalation point for all customers, and functioned as a Subject Matter Expert, providing consulting services on various legal operations and legal spend management topics. Expert further designed and utilized performance metrics and data analytics to provide dynamic customer reporting and insight into cost-savings and account trends.
After some time off in the first half of 2020, Expert joined a sales team where she leverages Artificial Intelligence with advanced data analytics and expert legal bill review. In this position, Expert collaborated with the company's Business Development Team and customer procurement teams to drive sales to global corporate and insurance company law departments. She was also the legal spend management and legal operations Subject Matter Expert who advised customers regarding innovative ways to enhance their legal invoice review process and maximize their cost savings. In April 2022, she was promoted into a newly created position in which she worked with enterprise customers to ensure that their program was successful and was meeting the client’s strategic, business, financial goals.
In February 2023, Expert founded a consulting and expert services company in insurance law, coverage, bad faith, legal operations, and legal spend management. In addition, she joined a legal process outsourcing company in June 2023 as their Director of Legal Spend Solutions. In this role, she is rebuilding and assisting Sales with the expansion of the company's legal spend management business line.
Expert is qualified as an expert in the following areas:
• Insurance Bad Faith
• Claims & Litigation Management
• Insurance Coverage
• Insurance Defense Litigation
• Insurance Law
• UM/UIM matters
• Legal Operations Best Practices/Efficiency
• Legal Spend Management
Education
| Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year: 2021 | Degree: Executive MBA | Subject: Business Administration | Institution: Quantic School of Business & Technology |
| Year: 1995 | Degree: Juris Doctor | Subject: Law | Institution: Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University |
| Year: 1990 | Degree: Bachelor of Arts | Subject: Psychology | Institution: University of California, Santa Barbara |
Work History
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years: 2023 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Director, Legal Spend Solutions | Department: |
Responsibilities:Award-winning company in the legal services industry, specializing in litigation and data breach document review, contract management, privacy, and compliance support, legal spend management, M&A services, and legal operations consulting.Expert is responsible for the Legal Spend Solutions business line for the company, including strategic planning, business process and procedure, financial performance, and expansion of business line. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2023 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Owner | Department: |
Responsibilities:Founder of company that provides independent adjusting services (catastrophe, field, and desk), consulting, and expert services in Insurance Law, Insurance Coverage, Bad Faith, Claim/Litigation Management & Best Practices, Legal Operations, and Legal Spend Management. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2022 to 2023 | Employer: Wolters Kluwer Enterprise Legal Management (ELM) | Title: Associate Director of Program Success | Department: |
Responsibilities:Global provider of professional information, software solutions, and services for clinicians, nurses, accountants, lawyers, and tax, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and regulatory sectors. ELM Solutions is the market-leading provider of enterprise legal spend and matter management, contract lifecycle management, and legal analytics solutions.• Developed and implemented initial framework, process, and procedure for Program Management Success program for LegalVIEW BillAnalyzer customers. • Works with enterprise customers to ensure that LegalVIEW BillAnalyzer program is helping to meet their strategic, business, and financial goals. • Develops and analyzes key performance indicators to evaluate success of LegalVIEW BillAnalyzer customer programs. • Drives initiatives to enhance internal and external processes, increase efficiency, and improve customer satisfaction. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2020 to 2022 | Employer: Wolters Kluwer Enterprise Legal Management (ELM) | Title: Senior Account and Relationship Executive | Department: Sales |
Responsibilities:Legal Operations and Spend Management Subject Matter Expert for LegalVIEW BillAnalyzer Business Development Team. LegalVIEW BillAnalyzer leverages Artificial Intelligence with advanced data analytics and expert legal bill review.• Consulted and advised customers regarding innovative ways to enhance their legal invoice review process and maximize their cost savings. • Worked with customers and internal teams to improve efficiency and quality of LegalVIEW BillAnalyzer services. • Participated in negotiation with customers for LegalVIEW BillAnalyzer services. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2020 to 2020 | Employer: Suite 200 Solutions | Title: Advisory Board Member | Department: |
Responsibilities:Helped improve legal operations, strengthen the management of outside legal resources, and maximize the efficiencies of the legal services provided to claimsorganizations and corporate law departments. For insurance defense law firms, helped to improve best practices in billing, alternative fee arrangements, and performance metrics. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2014 to 2020 | Employer: Elevate Services, Inc. | Title: Director of Legal Operations and Business Solutions | Department: Legal Business Solutions |
Responsibilities:Law company with approximately $100m in annual revenue, providing consulting, technology, and services to law departments and law firms. The company’s multi-disciplinary team of legal professionals, business professionals, and technology professionals extend and enable customers’ resources and capabilities worldwide.Founded, developed, and grew Legal Bill Review business line as part of the Legal Operations group. Developed all processes, procedures, standards, and training for the business line. Responsible for achieving all business line financial targets, including revenue, margin, and cost budgets. Implemented all new bill review customers, including designing the solution, creating project plans, change management, and project management. Utilized performance metrics and data analytics to provide dynamic reporting to customers and insight into cost-savings and account trends. • Drove business growth from one customer to 10+ customers in technology, pharmaceutical, insurance, and financial industries, resulting in $1.5M/year revenue. • Achieved a 65% margin through consistently increasing efficiency, process improvement, and innovation using automation and technology. • Created 30+ performance metrics to measure and analyze and provided robust reporting on account and bill reviewer performance, proactively identified and mitigated account risks, and provided additional training. • Developed all processes, procedures, standards, and training for the business line. • Utilized performance metrics and data analytics to provide customer insight into cost-savings and account trends. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2013 to 2016 | Employer: ALEXI Professional Services | Title: Founder & CEO | Department: |
Responsibilities:Provided legal services, consulting, and expert services in Insurance Coverage & Bad Faith, Claim & Litigation Management, and Legal Spend Management.• Improved Claim & Litigation Management & Outside Counsel Billing Guidelines, claim and litigation process and procedure for multiple clients. • Contractor for InvoicePrep, providing legal bill preparation, appeals of bill reductions, and relationship management for multiple law firms nationwide. • Delivered insurance coverage, bad faith analyses, and opinions for property & casualty, general liability, health, and life insurance matters. • Testified as an expert at trial and deposition in various insurance coverage and bad faith matters. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2011 to 2013 | Employer: Main Street America Group | Title: Corporate Counsel & Contract Manager | Department: Administration |
Responsibilities:Main Street America provides insurance to individuals, families, and small businesses in 37 states and fidelity and surety bonds in 47 states and the District of Columbia. Advised Main Street General Counsel and senior executives on legal, insurance, and contractual issues, including underwriting, claims, state insurance laws, and regulations.• Reduced timing for completing the annual Conflict of Interest process by 50% by developing templates, forms, and complex mail merges for written communication with all employees. • Designed and oversaw contract management system for all current contracts. • Renegotiated and drafted critical complex IT contracts between Main Street America and global technology companies. • Singularly prepared all closing documents and oversaw closing acquisitions of two companies. • Chosen to participate in the Executive Mentor Professional Development Program within the first six months of employment with CFO acting as a mentor. • Managed all corporate litigation, including outside counsel and vendor management, appearing as a company representative in legal matters, and reviewing/approving legal bills. • Prepared corporate governance documents for quarterly Board of Directors and Board Committee meetings. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2008 to 2010 | Employer: Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation | Title: Director of Litigation & Legal Operations | Department: |
Responsibilities:Served as company's initial corporate Director of Litigation and Legal Operations. Oversaw, directed, and managed all corporate and claim litigation to which the company was a party, including 7,000 individual lawsuits arising out of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and four class actions with exposure greater than $1B. Managed ten-panel counsel law firms across the state. Led a five person litigation department that oversees all litigation administration.• Reduced 93% of corporate & claim litigation against the company through strategic planning and collaboration with outside counsel. • Drastically reduced legal spend and achieved a 9X return on investment by implementing E-Billing, Legal Bill Review, and Alternative Fee Arrangements with outside counsel. • Designed and successfully executed an objective process for reviewing and improving outside counsel performance. • Managed outside counsel law firms and other legal vendors. • Created process and standards for hiring outside counsel and auditing outside counsel performance. • Led personally chosen, five-person Legal Operations Department team. • Communicated with Chief Operating Officer and Board of Directors regarding litigation strategy, resolution opportunities, legal costs, and budget compliance, outside counsel efficiency & effectiveness, business continuity, and long-term strategic planning for claim and litigation management. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2006 to 2008 | Employer: CNA | Title: Staff Attorney | Department: |
Responsibilities:Responsible for litigating complex, high dollar matters throughout Arizona, including products liability, dram shop matters, insurance coverage, and construction liability. Managed claims and litigation in conjunction with CNA claim professionals.• Reduced the length of litigated matters by 30% against the company through strategic planning and litigation process improvement. • Implemented new office procedures to increase the efficiency of requesting records, responding to discovery requests, and meeting disclosure requirements. • Employed negotiation skills to successfully mediate and resolve 60% of cases, resulting in reduced litigation costs. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2005 to 2006 | Employer: Renaud Cook Drury & Mesaros | Title: Senior Associate | Department: |
Responsibilities:Responsible for handling matters in Phoenix, including common carrier (trucking), medical malpractice, insurance coverage, products liability, construction defect, and commercial litigation.• Successfully drafted and argued multiple summary judgment motions that resulted in the client being dismissed from several high-dollar matters. • Successfully studied for and passed Arizona Bar Exam while working full time. |
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| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2003 to 2005 | Employer: Progressive | Title: Illinois House Counsel | Department: |
Responsibilities:Managed Progressive’s in-house counsel office for Illinois, which handled all litigated matters within the state. Managed a team of four, including a second attorney, two paralegals, and one law clerk. Worked with Claims Department to manage and determine strategy for claims and litigation.• Drove office efficiency to ensure budget compliance throughout tenure. • Reduced length of litigated matters by 25% through implementation of templates and standard office litigated procedures. • Design and implement office procedures to standardize and increase operational efficiency for all office tasks. |
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Career Accomplishments
| Associations / Societies |
|---|
| Claims and Litigation Management Alliance Illinois State Bar Association State Bar Association of Arizona |
| Licenses / Certifications |
|---|
| Attorney – Illinois Adjuster Licenses: o Florida- All-Lines (Resident) o Arizona – All-Lines o Indiana – Property & Casualty o Louisiana - Property & Casualty o Minnesota – Property & Casualty o Mississippi – Property & Casualty with Workers Compensation o Nevada – Property & Casualty o New Mexico – All-Lines o Oklahoma – Property o South Carolina – Property & Casualty o Texas – All-Lines o Utah – Property & Casualty |
| Publications and Patents Summary |
|---|
| Publications: 5 Blog Posts; Providing regular commentary on various issues related to bad faith, insurance law, and claim and litigation management issues. |
Additional Experience
| Expert Witness Experience |
|---|
| Expert has served as an expert witness in 23 cases to date. Experience with providing opinions, written reports, testimony, deposition, and affidavits. |
| Training / Seminars |
|---|
| Expert has offered training courses for the Claim and Litigation Management Alliance and has spoken at seminars in the area of insurance law, insurance coverage, bad faith, and claim and litigation management put on by the Claim and Litigation Management Alliance, the National Business Institute, ACI, Worley Claims, and the Louisiana Claims Association. |
| Marketing Experience |
|---|
| Expert has written articles regarding creative claim and litigation management and the evaluation of panel counsel. |
| Other Relevant Experience |
|---|
| Mediator, Arbitrator |
Fields of Expertise
legal spend management, litigation management, auto insurance, bad faith insurance, casualty insurance, commercial insurance, general liability insurance, insurance, bad faith claim, claim analysis, Claim development, claim preparation, insurance claim handling, insurance claim, insurance claims adjusting, insurance litigation, legal operations, legal billing