Michele L. Jacobson concentrates in complex insurance and reinsurance matters. Ms. Jacobson has handled insurance coverage disputes including policy defenses such as late notice of claim and occurrence and the pollution exclusion. Ms. Jacobson has also represented ceding companies, reinsurers, retrocessionaires, liquidators and intermediaries in a wide range of matters in federal and state courts and before arbitration panels throughout the country. These matters have involved such issues as misrepresentations in connection with the placement of reinsurance, disputes as to the coverage provided by treaties and policies, standards of responsibility in the creation and management of a reinsurance company, standards of conduct applicable to ceding companies in their dealings with reinsurers and disputes with program managers. Representative cases include the following:

A life insurance company in a dispute with Lloyd’s of London over late notice, coverage and misrepresentations;

A ceding company in connection with a charge by reinsurers that the placement information with respect to a treaty had been false and misleading;

A financial guaranty insurer in connection with a dispute with its reinsurer;

A life insurance company in a dispute with its reinsurer over surplus relief;

A life reinsurer engaged in commutation discussions with its reinsured and disputes with its retrocessionaire;

An insurer in disputes with its program manager concerning the remittance of premium and offset amounts due a captive reinsurer;

An insurer in disputes with its program manager concerning termination of the program and failure to remit premium;

A CGL insurer in a dispute with its insured concerning lost policies, coverage and late notice of occurrence; and

A quota share reinsurer in connection with its claims under a common account reinsurance agreement.

Ms. Jacobson also advises clients on reinsurance agreement wordings, and has drafted model treaty and facultative certificates for clients. Ms. Jacobson is a frequent lecturer on reinsurance topics and has been recognized by Chambers USA (2008) as a leading individual in Insurance Dispute Resolution (New York).

Ms. Jacobson also has extensive experience in securities, commodities and RICO litigation. She has defended securities class actions, participated in mergers and acquisitions litigations, and defended clients before the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Ms. Jacobson also has extensive experience in litigating RICO matters, and has co-authored several articles on the subject. As counsel to a cooperative sponsor in a civil RICO action seeking damages in excess of $10 million, Ms. Jacobson, along with other Stroock litigators, obtained summary judgment on behalf of a client, an affirmance by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and a denial of certiorari by the United States Supreme Court.

Ms. Jacobson also is an experienced trusts and estates litigator. Acting on behalf of a conservatorship estate, Ms. Jacobson obtained a multi-million dollar judgment against a former fiduciary who had embezzled artwork and personal effects from the estate of a conservatee, assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office in its criminal prosecution of the fiduciary, and froze the Swiss bank accounts containing the proceeds of the thefts. Ms. Jacobson also tried a testamentary capacity case before a jury in the Surrogate’s Court for New York County. At issue in that jury trial was the testamentary capacity of a testatrix who executed a Will following a possible diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease. Following the cross-examination of the objectants’ medical expert and the close of their case, the Court entered a directed verdict in favor of Stroock’s client, the preliminary executor named under the Will, admitting the Will to probate. Ms. Jacobson has also been involved in contested proceedings that arise in connection with the administration of estates, trusts and charitable donations, including litigation surrounding fiduciary accountings.

Memberships

Member, New York State Bar Association

Member, New Jersey State Bar Association

Member, AIDA-U.S. Reinsurance and Insurance Arbitration Society (ARIAS)

Activities

Co-author, "The Access to Records Clause," ARIAS U.S. Quarterly, Volume 13, Number 3, Third Quarter 2006; Co-author, Obtaining Discovery from Reinsurance Intermediaries and Other Non-Parties Updated Case Law and Commentary, Mealey’s Litigation Report: Reinsurance, November 17, 2005; Co-author, "Obtaining Pre-Hearing Discovery from the Uncooperative Reinsurance Intermediary," ARIAS U.S. Quarterly, 2003; Co-author, Civil RICO: The State of the Law, Broker-Dealer Institute 1989, Practising Law Institute, 1989; Co-author, Corporate Vicarious Liability Under Federal Securities, Antitrust and RICO Laws: Toward Imposing a Good Faith Defense Between the Plaintiff and the Deep Pocket, Civil RICO: Litigation vs. Arbitration, American Law Institute, 1988; Co-author, Civil RICO: Plaintiffs' Tactics and Strategy, Fifth Annual RICO Litigation Seminar, Law Journal Seminars Press, 1988; Co-author, Civil RICO: Pleadings and Litigation Strategy, Third Annual RICO Litigation Seminar, Law Journal Seminars Press, 1986; Author, Note, RICO Post-Indictment Restraining Orders: The Process Due Defendants, New York University Law Review, 1985

Admitted to Practice

New Jersey, 1987; U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, 1987; New York, 1988;

U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, 1988; U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 1994; U.S. District Court, Western District of New York, 1997

U.S. Supreme Court, 1998; District of Colorado, 2002; Third Circuit, 2004

Education

J.D., New York University School of Law, 1987; Member and Editor, New York University Law Review; Recipient, Judge Abraham Lieberman Award

B.A., summa cum laude, Brandeis University, 1984; Recipient, Louis D. Brandeis Award; Valedictorian, Department of Politics