Robert D. (“Bert”) Helfand represents property casualty insurers, insurance trade associations, and financial services companies in complex litigation and administrative proceedings, including class action, securities, consumer credit, ERISA, and RICO matters.
He has successfully defended suits challenging claims practices, underwriting practices, corporate transactions, and coverage decisions, as well as claims asserted under consumer fraud and privacy statutes, federal securities laws, ERISA, RICO, the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Mr. Helfand represents leading trade groups as amici curiae in the Supreme Court of the United States. He also represents and counsels insurers in connection with regulatory matters involving automated systems, predictive analytics and other issues.
Mr. Helfand returned to private practice after serving as assistant general counsel at a leading U.S.-based insurance and investment company, where he managed litigation, developed protocols for document preservation and statutory compliance, trained business attorneys on issues relating to litigation, counseled business clients on coverage issues and the development of automated claim systems, and helped negotiate complex vendor agreements.
His work covered a wide variety of insurance lines, including commercial property, homeowners, automobile, workers compensation, commercial and professional liability, reinsurance, and surplus lines.
Earlier in his career, Bert spent 20 years in private practice conducting complex commercial litigation for insurers, manufacturers and mid-sized businesses in state, federal, and bankruptcy courts and in commercial arbitrations.
Among many other cases, he represented leading health care insurers in fraud and RICO actions against national and regional medical providers; litigated antitrust actions on behalf of a prominent cement manufacturer; represented a clearing bank in an arbitration over the fraudulent sale of canceled securities; defended banks, venture capital firms and other investors in numerous actions alleging violations of RICO and the federal securities laws; and conducted criminal trials and appeals pro bono on behalf of both defendants and prosecutors.
Bert writes and speaks frequently on insurance issues. His articles have appeared in numerous publications and have been used as course materials at the University of Connecticut School of Law. He has been a frequent contributor to a blog focused on the legal developments in the property-casualty industry.
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