Rachel Kronowitz is a founding partner and Vice Chair of Gilbert LLP focusing on insurance recovery for significant claims, strategic risk management, and counseling corporations in structuring insurance and risk transfer portfolios.  She assists corporations in evaluating their existing insurance portfolios, addressing their insurance and risk transfer needs, and recovering from insurers when significant losses occur.

Rachel counsels corporations on a variety of issues related to strategic risk management and insurance recovery, including the assessment of corporate risks and exposures and the availability of insurance to respond to those risks.  She has a particular focus on the creative restructuring of insurance portfolios to meet the needs of corporate policyholders.  Recent examples include:

• Representation of a Fortune 50 company in due diligence related to a multi-billion dollar acquisition

• Counsel to a company with mass tort liability related to corporate restructuring, private equity acquisition and insurance recovery

• Representation of a private equity firm in due diligence related to potential liabilities and available risk transfer mechanisms for target companies

Rachel also represents corporate policyholders in negotiations and formal alternative dispute resolution proceedings to obtain recovery of insurance assets for defense and liability costs associated with covered claims.  These insurance coverage disputes include losses associated with mass tort claims, first party liability issues and claims arising out of shareholder litigation and corporate governance disputes.  Examples of recent matters include:

• Representation of a Fortune 100 company in the resolution and payment of billions of dollars of coverage related to mass tort and product claims

• Representation of a Fortune 50 company against its D&O insurer for coverage for defense costs and indemnity payments in connection with shareholder litigation

• Obtaining over $1 billion in insurance coverage payments for mass tort claims for a multinational corporation

Rachel has assisted corporations with developing strategies to manage and resolve claims against their insurers and crafting innovative resolutions to provide coverage for these claims.  She also assists corporations contemplating acquisitions in assessing potential liability and the availability of insurance or other risk transfer mechanisms to provide coverage for those liabilities. 

Prior to joining Gilbert LLP, Rachel was a partner in the Complex Dispute Resolution Group at Dickstein Shapiro in Washington, DC.  Previously, she was affiliated with the Washington firm Covington & Burling.

Rachel is a frequent speaker on risk management and insurance recovery topics to a wide variety of audiences, including the Association of Financial Professionals, the American Bar Association, and the Reinsurance Association of America.  Rachel has authored many articles on insurance and risk management-related topics, including climate change and strategic risk management. 

Community Activities

• Chair, Board of Directors, Washington Area Women’s Foundation
• Member, Board of Directors, Equal Justice Works
• Trustee, Jewish Council for the Aging
• Active Participant, Georgetown Day School PSA

• ADR Sub-committee Chair, ABA Committee on Pretrial Practice and Procedure
• ADR Sub-committee Co-Chair, ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee

• Named as one of Business Insurance magazine’s “2007 Women to Watch”
• Named as one of the Washington Business Journal’s 2007 “Women Who Mean Business”
• Named as one of the International Who's Who of Insurance & Reinsurance Lawyers 2008 - 2012
• Named as one of the International Who's Who of Business Lawyers 2009 - 2012
• Selected as a Washington, DC Super Lawyer, 2013

• Is Your D&O Policy Bankrupt-Ready? 10 Underwriting Tips To Protect Your Directors And Officers, We've Got You Covered - Insurance Law Blog, April 2, 2013
• Protecting Your Bottom Line from the Cost of National Association of Securities Dealers and FINRA Investigations, We've Got You Covered - Insurance Law Blog, September 27, 2012
• Is Your D&O Policy Bankruptcy Ready? 10 Underwriting Tips to Protect Your Directors and Officers, April 16, 2009
• Potential Sale of Midland Estate, April 2009
• Little Fish, Big Ponzi: Recouping Madoff Losses Through Insurance Proceeds, February 2009
• Women to Watch, Business Insurance, July 30, 2007
• Climate Change Exclusion, Los Angeles Daily Journal, April 12, 2007
• Alternative Risk Financing, Global Association of Risk Professionals, April 2007

• All Sums, Reallocation and Settlement Credits, May 10, 2012
• ABA Section of Dispute Resolution 2010 Spring Conference, April 7, 2010
• Practising Law Institute: Insurance Coverage 2009: Trends and Litigation, May 4, 2009
• Tatum LLC Mid-Atlantic Breakfast and Training: Enterprise Risk Management: Buzz Word or Value-Added Proposition?, May 23, 2008
• ACE Global Legal Conference, May 21, 2008
• Practicing Law Institute: Insurance Coverage 2008: Claim Trends and Litigation, May 19, 2008
• Practicing Law Institute: Insurance Coverage 2008: Claim Trends and Litigation, April 28, 2008
• Mealey's Construction Defect SuperConference, November 7, 2007
• AFP (Association for Financial Professionals) Annual Conference, October 21, 2007
• AFP Conference: Insurance and Risk Transfer Alternatives, October 21, 2007
• Mealey’s National Asbestos Litigation Super Conference, September 26, 2007
• Mealey’s National Asbestos SuperConference, September 26, 2007
• Who's First in Line? Indemnity Provisions and Contractual Liability Coverage in “Other Insurance” Clauses, Winter 2007

• Mo. Issues Rare Ruling Denying Sex Abuse Coverage To Church, Law360, November 29, 2012
• Gilbert LLP’s Rachel Kronowitz is Named Washington Area Women’s Foundation Board Chair, June 29, 2010
• Rachel Kronowitz is a Woman Who Means Business, November 5, 2007
• D&O Heats Up, Best's Review, August 2007
• Rachel S. Kronowitz Named to Business Insurance’s 2007 “Women to Watch” List, July 30, 2007
• RSA Runoff Sale OK'd With Some Restrictions, Business Insurance, February 26, 2007
• Policy Buybacks Call for Cautious Approach, Business Insurance, February 13, 2007