Josh Kantrow is a partner in the Chicago office of Lewis Brisbois and a vice-chair of the National Professional Liability Practice. Clients frequently retain Josh to litigate complex, high exposure cases throughout the United States and appreciate his ability to generate great results.
Mr. Kantrow defends a wide variety of professionals, including but not limited to accountants, directors and officers, financial industry professionals, insurance agents and brokers, lawyers, real estate agents, appraisers and surveyors, and software and technology industry specialists. Josh also litigates complex insurance coverage, class action, and data privacy/network security cases across the country.
Mr. Kantrow’s experience managing claims enables him to view legal issues from the client’s perspective. Several years ago, Mr. Kantrow worked in London for a Berkshire Hathaway backed insurer.
In this role, Josh managed complex professional liability litigation, analyzed claims, counseled on contract wordings, and assessed risk. Mr. Kantrow also served for three years as outside counsel for a national manufacturer based in Chicago, managing claims and providing transactional advice.
Mr. Kantrow has been a speaker at approximately 50 seminars, conducted across the United States, in Europe and in Israel. Mr. Kantrow has also participated as a guest on multimedia platforms (including radio, television and podcasts), has been interviewed by leading industry publications, and has published articles on various legal topics and issues.
Prior to moving to Chicago, Mr. Kantrow spent a semester in law school at the Université Aix-Marseille in Aix-en-Provence, France, interned for a federal judge at the U.S. Claims Court in Washington, D.C., and practiced in New Orleans for four years.
Education :
- Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Juris Doctor, 1990
- Louisiana State University, Bachelor of Arts, 1987
Admissions :
- State Bar Admissions
- Illinois
- Louisiana
- New York
- United States Courts of Appeals & Supreme Court
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- State Supreme Courts
- Illinois Supreme Court
- State of New York Court of Appeals
- United States District Courts
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
Associations :
- Claims and Litigation Management Alliance
- Professional Liability Underwriting Society
Mr. Kantrow has presented on professional liability and other legal issues at approximately 50 seminars and conferences throughout the United States, and in England, France and Israel, including before the following organizations: American Conference Institute; American International Group Conference; American Society for Healthcare Risk Management; Association of Legal Administrators; BCS Group’s Annual Conference; Chicago Bar Association; Illinois State University; International Underwriting Association; Israel Advanced Technology Industries; Lloyd’s Underwriting Association; Markel Corporation; Minnesota Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company; Monomoy Capital; Navigators Management Company; New Jersey Bar Association; Ravinia Capital; and Technion University (Israel).
Representative Matters :
- Won a motion for summary judgment in a federal court on behalf of three insurance broker clients after a tenacious effort and a two-year investigation, which revealed that the plaintiffs submitted a fraudulent claim. As a result, Mr. Kantrow’s clients did not have to pay undisputed damages of several million dollars as a result of several errors and omissions they made in procuring insurance coverage.
- Won a motion for judgment on the pleadings, a rare occurrence in policyholder friendly Cook County, Illinois, defeating an insured’s claim for coverage in a $2 million underlying action. What made the victory even more remarkable was the fact that the claim fell within the professional liability policy’s insuring agreement. Yet Mr. Kantrow convinced the court that two exclusions were applicable on their face, despite the fact the parties had not yet engaged in discovery.
- Won a motion to dismiss an errors and omission case filed in Illinois against an out of state professional despite the fact that Mr. Kantrow’s client: (a) communicated with its Illinois customer regularly by phone and email, (b) invoiced the customer in Illinois, (c) derived revenue from an Illinois business, and (d) Illinois has a very broad personal jurisdiction statute. Mr. Kantrow nevertheless convinced the court that these activities were not sufficient “minimum contacts” for an Illinois court to exercise jurisdiction over his client.
- Following protracted litigation and motion practice, settled several different multi-million lawsuits venued in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana against Mr. Kantrow’s directors and officers clients for $10,000,000 under the client’s insurers’ loss reserves.
- Represented two business trade organizations and submitted a brief that helped convince the Kentucky Supreme Court to overturn a $3.75 million punitive damages verdict against a hospital following a medical malpractice trial.
- As counsel of record for two pharmacy associations, submitted an amicus brief that assisted a national pharmacy in getting a $5.4 million pharmacy malpractice verdict overturned by a Florida appellate court.
Cost
Rate : $$$