Jennifer R. Devery is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Crowell & Moring LLP, where she concentrates her practice on representing and counseling insurers, reinsurers and brokers in all aspects of the dispute resolution process.

Jennifer regularly represents clients in negotiations, mediation, arbitration and/or litigation involving disputes related to, among other things, the cession/retrocession of claims under facultative and treaty reinsurance contracts, industry custom & practice, cedent insolvencies, fronting arrangements, allegations of misconduct by brokers and third-party administrators, and insurance coverage for products liability, asbestos and environmental claims.

In addition to her dispute resolution work, Jennifer regularly counsels clients regarding business, strategy and regulatory matters including insurance and reinsurance claim and notice issues, policy wording, emerging risks for the industry, and captive arrangements.

In 2010, Business Insurance selected Jennifer as one of its Women to Watch, an honor given to 25 women in recognition of their outstanding work in insurance, risk management, employee benefits and related fields.  In 2011, Law 360° named her one of the top five insurance attorneys under 40 in the U.S.  She has also been recognized as a top insurance and reinsurance attorney in Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Insurance & Reinsurance Attorneys.

Examples of Jennifer's most recent experience include:

• obtaining a multi-million arbitration award for a cedent after its reinsurer challenged the reasonableness of the cedent's allocation of an underlying asbestos settlement;
• defending a UK reinsurance intermediary against professional malpractice claims brought by ceding insurers alleging that the intermediary's conduct was the cause of an arbitration panel's rescission of reinsurance agreements covering ceding insurers' energy, construction and oil & petrochemical risks;
• successfully representing a cedent in a dispute with its reinsurer over the proper application of an accident exclusion in an underlying insurance policy on which the cedent settled its policyholder's environmental claim;
• counseling a client regarding the restructuring of its aviation and space insurance program to make more active use of a wholly-owned captive;
• representing a cedent in an arbitration in connection with a reinsurer's refusal to pay declaratory judgment expenses in toto and any expenses in the absence of a loss payment;
• representing an insurance company in coverage litigation involving competing claims by two companies to the same policies following a series of complex corporate transactions; and
• serving as strategic counsel to a major insurance company with respect to defending underlying silica claims, including claims asserted in the federal multidistrict silica litigation.

Affliations & Memberships

• Member, the AIDA Reinsurance and Insurance Arbitration Society (ARIAS - U.S.), serving on its Law Committee
• Member, the American Bar Association's Sections of Litigation and Tort Trial & Insurance Practice
• Member, the U.S. Reinsurance Under 40's Group
• Member, the Association of Professional Insurance Women (APIW)

Honors & Recognitions

• Honored by Business Insurance as one of its 25 Women to Watch in 2010.
• Named a "Rising Star" and one of the top five insurance attorneys under 40 in the U.S. by Law 360°.
• Recognized as a top insurance and reinsurance attorney in Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Insurance & Reinsurance Attorneys (2009 and 2010 Editions).