Past Symposia and Events

ILC to Welcome Dr. Oliver Brand for Lunchtime Lecture

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The Insurance Law Center at UConn Law

is pleased to invite you to a lunchtime lecture by

Headshot of Dr Oliver Brand smiling in a suit and tie.

Dr. Oliver Brand

Martin Flynn Global Law Faculty

Chair of Private Law, Insurance Law, Business Law & Comparative Law at the University of Mannheim, Germany

on the topic of

Misuse of Insurance by Totalitarian Systems:
A Cautionary Tale from Nazi Germany

on

Thursday, April 17, 2025 at 12:30pm ET

Thomas J. Meskill Law Library
Room No. 202
UConn School of Law
55 Elizabeth Street
Hartford, CT 06105

Please register using the form below by Tuesday, April 15, 2025.

Lunch is provided for registered attendees.
Remote participation option is available for registered attendees. 

Abstract

Insurance is generally seen as a benefit to society as it allows people to safeguard against the financial consequences of all sorts of unfortunate events. But what happens if the state begins using the tools of insurance law to systematically deprive groups of citizens of any kind of financial security?

Using the actions of the Nazi government in Germany (1933–1945) as an example, this talk explores how instruments like insurance supervision, which were designed to protect insureds and their interests, can be corrupted to work against them by an unscrupulous state.

The collapse of contractual rights, the complicity of the German insurance industry in persecuting citizens of Jewish faith, and also individual acts of resistance against the maelstrom of the Nazi insurance regimes will be highlighted. An outlook on the resilience of modern insurance law against such instances of gross misuse will conclude the talk.

ILC Hosts Lunchtime Lecture with Prof. Margarida Lima Rego

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The Insurance Law Center at UConn Law

is pleased to invite you to a lunchtime lecture by

Margarida Lima Rego

Professor, Nova School of Law, Lisbon

on the topic of

“Digital Transformation in Insurance: The Contract-as-Product Approach to Overcoming Information Overload”

on

Tuesday, February 4th, 12:30pm ET

Hosmer Hall, Ground Floor Conference Room (next to Faculty Lounge)

Lunch will be provided. Remote option available upon registration.

Please Register by Friday 1/31

Abstract:

This paper discusses how digital transformation is pushing the traditional model of contract formation into obsolescence. It argues that, largely as a consequence of the digital transformation and the inherent information overload, formal adherence to that model has slowly but steadily numbed everyone into mechanically declaring that they have read, understood, and agreed to a growing number of boilerplate or standard terms. This raises questions about whether these agreements are still contractual in nature. The chapter focuses on the recent product oversight and governance requirements in EU Law. It is submitted that the adoption of a contract-as-product approach is better equipped to protect insurance customers than transparency requirements based on the proliferation of information duties, given that most will choose not to assimilate the information that is so abundantly provided to them, this being an increasingly rational choice in view of the growing information overload. The contract-as-product approach also opens the door to the questioning of the contractual nature of standard terms, entailing some measure of recognition that they are often closer to a supplier’s instruction manuals than to the product of a meeting of the contract parties’ minds.

Full paper available for download here.

ILC & CT Insurance Law Journal Host ESG & Insurance Symposium

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A Symposium Sponsored by the Insurance Law Center & the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal

ESG, Insurance & the Law 

On Friday, May 31, 2024, the Insurance Law Center and the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal successfully hosted a symposium on ESG, Insurance & the Law at the University of Connecticut School of Law in Hartford. The full-day event, which ran from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM, brought together leading academics, regulators, and industry professionals to discuss the intersection of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues and their impact on insurance law.

The symposium, held in the Davis Courtroom of William F. Starr Hall, drew a diverse group of attendees. Discussions were structured around four key panels that addressed academic, industry, consumer, and legislative perspectives on ESG in insurance. Esteemed panelists included:

Academic Perspectives Industry Perspectives Consumer Perspectives Legislation & Regulation
  • Matt Lesser, Connecticut State Senate
  • Tom Swan, Connecticut Citizens Action Group
  • Tom Sullivan, Federal Reserve; formerly Connecticut Insurance Department
Moderator: Peter Siegelman, University of Connecticut School of Law Moderator: Travis Pantin, University of Connecticut School of Law Moderator: Joseph A. MacDougald, University of Connecticut School of Law Moderator: David Robinson, University of Connecticut School of Law, formerly The Hartford

Moderated by UConn Law faculty and experts, the panels provided attendees with a wide-ranging exploration of the challenges and opportunities facing insurers and regulators as ESG issues become increasingly central to the industry. In addition to the panels, the symposium featured opening remarks, breaks for networking, and a closing cocktail reception that allowed for further dialogue between participants.

The Insurance Law Center expressed its gratitude to all speakers, participants, and attendees for contributing to a productive and engaging event.

For any follow-up questions or further information, attendees are encouraged to contact the Insurance Law Center at ilc@uconn.edu.

New Ideas in Insurance Workshop Continues (Spring 2024)

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The Insurance Law Center will continue to host its New Ideas in Insurance virtual workshop during the Spring 2024 semester. The list of upcoming presentations is available here. We look forward to seeing you again as we convene leading experts from the academy, the bar, and the insurance industry to discuss compelling new ideas in the field.

Insurance Law Center Fall 2022 Cocktail Reception

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Wednesday, September 14
5 - 7 p.m.
Thomas J. Meskill Law Library Patio
University of Connecticut School of Law
39 Elizabeth Street
Hartford, Connecticut
In case of inclement weather, the reception will be held in Janet M. Blumberg Hall.

You're invited to join the Insurance Law Center at the UConn School of Law for a gathering of insurance LLM students, faculty, alumni and insurance professionals. Please register by September 9.

RSVP

American College of Coverage Counsel COVID-19 Webinar

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The UConn program on November 12 will focus on the liability claims and related insurance issues that are now emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.  The webinar, which has been organized by ACCC Fellows John Buchanan of Covington & Burling and Rhonda Tobin of Robinson & Cole, is being presented in conjunction with the Insurance Law Center at UConn Law and the Connecticut Bar Association.  The keynote presenter will be Professor Tom Baker, the William Maul Measey Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania and the first Academic Director of UConn’s Insurance Law Center, who will discuss the case law trends that he has observed in the course of developing Penn’s COVID Coverage Litigation Tracker website with Lex Machina.  The program will also feature a presentation on emerging liability claims by Jeffery Vita of Saxe Doernberger & Vita and Jay Sever of Phelps Dunbar, to be followed by a roundtable discussion of liability and insurance issues involving our panelists, members of the Law School community, and members of the Insurance Law Section of the Connecticut Bar Association.  UConn’s Insurance Law Center is the preeminent academic center for insurance law and risk regulation and offers the only Insurance Law LLM program in the country.  Each year the Center organizes conferences and events bringing together leading scholars, lawyers and regulators to discuss and debate the legal and public policy issues surrounding insurance law and regulation.

This webinar is free to all ACCC Fellows as well as their clients, partners and colleagues, and students, staff and faculty at UConn School of Law.

China Banking & Insurance Regulatory Commission Training Session Program

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The ALI’s Restatement of Law, Liability Insurance

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The American Law Institute adopted its Restatement of the Law, Liability Insurance in May 2018 after years of study, debate and controversy. Its journey, however, continues as lawyers and courts consider whether to utilize and perhaps adopt Restatement positions, and opponents continue lobbying state legislatures, regulators and courts to ignore it. This conference will bring together academics and practicing lawyers who have worked on the Restatement to discuss and debate these issues. The Conference continues on Friday, April 12 at Rutgers Law School, Camden New Jersey. Click here for more information.

Panel topics will include the Plain Meaning Rule and the use of extrinsic evidence in coverage disputes, the duty to make reasonable settlement decisions, and insurer liability for actions of appointed defense counsel. Professor Tom Baker, a preeminent scholar in insurance law and one of two ALI Reporters for the Restatement, will lead an interactive lunch session on how the Restatement would apply to a hypothetical claim scenario.

The Conference Agenda is provided below. Please RSVP by April 3rd, 2019. The conference registration fee is $60 for practitioners and other guests, waived for students, faculty and staff.

Agenda

8:00 am: Continental Breakfast

8:45 am: Opening Remarks

9:00 am: The Restatement of Law Liability Insurance: Process and Politics

Professor Jay Feinman (Rutgers Law School)

9: 30 am: Panel 1: Professional Responsibility & the RLLI

Professor Leslie Levin (UConn Law School)

Adjunct Professor Mark Dubois,

Attorney Philip Newbury (Howd & Ludorf)

Moderator: Professor Brendan Maher (UConn Law School)

10:30 am: Break

10:45 am: Panel 2: Plain Meaning and Ambiguity in Insurance Contracts

Attorney Laura Foggan (Crowell & Moring)

Attorney John Buchanan (Covington & Burling)

Attorney Ray DeMeo (Robinson & Cole)

Moderator: Professor Patricia McCoy (Boston College Law School)

12:00 pm: Lunch – Presentation by Professor Tom Baker: Professor Baker will discuss how the RLLI would apply to a hypothetical claim.

1:30 pm: Panel 3: Duty to Make Reasonable Settlement Decisions

Professor Jeff Stempel (UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law)

Attorney Theresa Guertin (Saxe Doernberger & Vita)

Attorney Matthew Shiroma (Day Pitney)

Moderator: Professor Adam Scales (Rutgers Law School)

2:45: Break

3:00: Panel 4: The Restatement in Context

Professor Jill Anderson (UConn Law School)

Professor James Davey (Southampton University Law School, UK)

Professor Qihao He (China University of Political Science and Law)

Commentator: Dean Aviva Abramovsky (University at Buffalo School of Law)

Moderator: Professor Peter Kochenburger (UConn Law School)

4:30 pm Concluding Remarks, followed by

Ice Cream Social – UConn Dairy Bar with cordials

Eligible for Connecticut and New York CLE Credits

Is U.S. Insurance Regulation Unconstitutional?

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On March 13, the University of Connecticut, School of Law, Insurance Law Center, sponsored a debate between two of the nation’s leading insurance scholars on the provocative claim that the current NAIC-centric regulatory regime violates the requirements of many state constitutions. Professor Martin Grace of Temple University supported the current regulatory regime while Professor Daniel Schwarcz of the University of Minnesota argued that it was unconstitutional. Professor Brendan Maher of UConn served as moderator.

The captioned video stream of this debate can be viewed without charge here: Is U.S. Insurance Regulation Unconstitutional? Professor Schwarcz’s article has been published in the most recent volume of the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal (Volume 25, Issue 1) and is also available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3239966.