|
Selena J. Linde is chair of Perkins Coie’s Insurance Recovery practice and a leading national insurance coverage litigator who has led some of the largest insurance recovery cases in federal and state courts throughout the country. Selena is a forceful advocate and has recovered more than $4 billion for her clients during her more than 26-year career and clients and boards rely on her when the stakes are high to both advise and litigate coverage issues against insurance companies. She regularly advises boards on insurance issues and risk management strategies and is regularly hired in high profile bankruptcies and by post-bankruptcy trusts to maximize the coverage available to the debtors’ estates, creditors’ committees, and trust beneficiaries. In 2020, she won a precedent-setting U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit decision for Zillow on claims-made policies and is currently representing more than a dozen clients in assessing and filing COVID-19 claims.
Litigation and Counseling
Selena is an adept litigator who has handled some of the largest insurance recovery matters in the country. She is an authority on all types of insurance policies and her experience tells her story. Recent clients and matters include representation of
- Motors Liquidation Company—insurance recovery for environmental and asbestos liabilities of pre-bankruptcy General Motors (commercial general liability policies)
- Residential Capital—bankruptcy/Ally Capital reorganization and insurance recovery cases stemming from subprime mortgage cases (directors and officers liability/errors and omissions policies)
- Las Vegas Sands—insurance recovery for the alleged state-sponsored cyber data breach which warranted hearings (cyber/privacy policies) before the U.S. Senate
- Amazon—insurance recovery for transportation liability cases (business auto policies)
- Multinational technology company—insurance recovery for employment class action cases (employment practices liability policies)
- The Iconic Brat Pack El San Juan Hotel in Puerto Rico for Hurricane Maria property claims (first party property and business interruption policies)
- NBA sports team for a disability case regarding contract payment for an NBA sports team (player disability policies)
- Multiple pharmaceutical and big pharma clients in the current high-profile MDL opioid litigation
In addition to her active litigation, arbitration, and mediation practice, Selena devotes approximately a quarter of her time to counseling current clients regarding obtaining policies, renewal, and drafting insurance language in business contracts, all in an effort to minimize and prevent insurance litigation. Her philosophy is simple—insurance counseling is critical so clients do not have to litigate issues that could have been corrected prior to contracting. Her corporate counseling clients include dozens of retailers and technology companies including Amazon, Box, Costco, Continental Mills, PetSmart, Wakefern Food Corp., and Zillow.
Recognition and Thought Leadership
Selena’s excellent legal skills have been recognized nationally by numerous legal publications including The Best Lawyers in America for Insurance Law, Legal 500: Industry Focus: Insurance, Benchmark Litigation, and Benchmark Plaintiff. She has also been named as one of Benchmark’s Top 250 Women in Litigation and was selected as a Woman to Watch by both Business Insurance and Diversity Journal.
Selena was the primary author and editor of the first edition of the Association of Corporate Counsel's “A Policyholder Primer on Insurance.” She is a sought-after speaker on insurance coverage issues and regularly presents for organizations including the Association of Corporate Counsel, Retail Industry Leaders Association, and Deloitte. In 2020, she spoke (virtually) at more than 20 conferences. (Please see Presentation link for copies of her presentations).
Related Experience
Prior to Perkins Coie, Selena led an insurance recovery office of more than 60 coverage lawyers. She also worked for the U.S. Judiciary Committee during the U.S. Supreme Court nomination hearings of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
