For more than two decades, A. Kenneth Levine, co-chair of the firm’s Insurance Corporate & Regulatory Practice Group, has provided regulatory counsel and representation to numerous insurance, health care, warranty, and securities business and governmental clients.
He routinely handles insurer, agent/agency/MGU, administrator, and extended warranty program licensure, change of control, market conduct compliance and remediation, rate and form wording and approval, financial reporting, reinsurance, receivership, and a host of other regulatory issues.
Ken also represents broker-dealers and investment advisers in registration and enforcement matters at the state level. When needed, Ken has successfully prosecuted, defended, and settled dozens of contentious administrative proceedings involving the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Department of Financial Services, Office of Financial Regulation, Attorney General, Agency for Health Care Administration, Department of Elder Affairs, and Department of Management Services.
Ken began his career by appointment to the Florida Department of Insurance, culminating in positions as senior counsel and hearing officer in the Department’s Office of Chief of Staff in Tallahassee, Fla., and earning the Commissioner’s Outstanding Service Award. Before entering private practice in Tallahassee, Ken served as general counsel and personnel director of a large national company.
Ken is recognized by Chambers & Partners as one of the dozen top insurance attorneys in Florida, having achieved this honor every year since 2007. Chambers & Partners recently noted that he “wins great acclaim from clients for his excellent transactional and regulatory skills, with one complimenting ‘his knowledge, his contacts, his ability to get regulators to work with us, his follow-through, his timeliness and ability to explain things clearly.’ Another offers similar praise, remarking: ‘He is a great communicator and listener with a thorough understanding of compliance laws.
Ken earned his bachelor’s degree (B.S.M.) from the A.B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University, and his law degree from the Tulane University School of Law where he served on the Moot Court Honor Board and was awarded the Order of the Barristers.
He has since authored various treatise chapters, articles, and compliance checklists – concentrating on technical regulatory topics and administrative procedure – published by LexisNexis, Matthew Bender & Company, Thompson Reuters, and other legal sources.
In 2015, the Federation of Regulatory Counsel (a nationwide association of attorneys specializing in insurance regulatory law) elected Ken to serve as the editor of the FORC Quarterly Journal of Insurance Law and Regulation.
EXPERIENCE :
- Represented the seller in the multimillion dollar sale of Orchid Underwriters Agency, LLC to Gryphon Investors.
- Served as lead regulatory counsel on five of Florida’s largest acquisitions of domestic health maintenance organizations.
- Served on the advisory council as a member of the Service Contract Task Force, State of California, Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair.
- Represented various industry trade associations in connection with significant administrative litigation.
- Retained by various Am Law 100 and other firms on surplus lines, disclaimer of control, and Florida-specific coverage issues.
- Retained by the Florida Department of Financial Services to provide counsel and representation in litigation in several high-profile receiverships.
- Successfully negotiated market conduct penalty in connection with rate filings and unfiled rates to less than five percent of the amount initially sought from one of the country’s largest health insurers.
- Represented a large broker-dealer in administrative and civil litigation by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation and Attorney General to achieve penalty, and consumer damages purported under variable annuity contracts, to less than six percent of the amount initially sought.
EDUCATION :
- Tulane University Law School, J.D., 1990
- Tulane University, B.S., 1987
BAR ADMISSIONS : Florida; District of Columbia
COURT ADMISSIONS :
- U.S. District Court — Northern District of Florida
- U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida
- U.S. Court of Federal Claims
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
AFFILIATIONS :
- Federation of Regulatory Counsel
- Half-Axe International
- Consumer Credit Insurance Association
- School Advisory Council of Suncoast Community High School
Cost
Rate : $$$