Huhnsik advises the insurance industry in contentious matters that involve complex and significant exposures arising from various product lines. He successfully applies a focused and result driven approach as coverage and trial counsel to matters related to oil and energy, marine, technology and media, financial institutions, various toxic torts, environmental contamination, products and medical devices, professional services, aviation and life. Clients also rely on Huhnsik's knowledge and understanding of the business of insurance to handle commercial disputes involving producers, books of business, receiverships and reinsurance. Huhnsik has served as counsel in more than 70 insurance and reinsurance related arbitrations and judicial proceedings in the U.S. and abroad. He is also regularly called as New York law expert and counsel in Bermuda form arbitrations and recognized by clients and practitioners in New York Superlawyers and Superlawyers Corporate Counsel Edition.
On the non-contentious side, Huhnsik represents insurers in regulatory and transactional matters as well as policy drafting and review. He also counsels transnational and start-up businesses on matters ranging from corporate formation and governance to intellectual property management.
Notable Experience
· Huhnsik successfully represented the sponsoring company of the first ever securitization of excess liability exposure through a catastrophe bond, in commuting liabilities impairing notes issued by the SPV/reinsurer which were held principally by private equity investors. This matter raised novel issues concerning the structure of the transaction as well as reinsurance and insurance coverage issues.
· Huhnsik regularly represents insurers in Bermuda form arbitrations involving property and liability claims associated with the energy sector as well as various excess liability exposures.
· The jury returned a unanimous defense verdict and our client prevailed in both the Appellate Division and Court of Appeals when Huhnsik successfully represented an insurer in the defense of a jury trial and appeal of a seminal New York case. The case was on burden on proof and allocation of liability among successive insurers in a coverage dispute involving Con Edison and environmental contamination at its former manufactured gas plant in Tarrytown New York. Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. Allstate Ins. Co., et al.
· Huhnsik has successfully represented insurers in significant first party property claims involving oil and energy industry.
· Huhnsik has successfully represented property and casualty insurers in more than dozens environmental coverage actions involving various underlying contaminants in several states.
· Huhnsik has successfully represented ceding companies and reinsurers in more than a dozen arbitrations.
· Huhnsik successfully represented a patent holder in patent infringement and breach of licensing disputes concerning revolutionary in-line skates.
· Huhnsik successfully represented patent holders in their prosecution of infringement claims against some of the largest computer manufacturers in the industry.
· Recently, Huhnsik represented the issuer of global notes in Singapore in increments of $120 million and $100 million as part of the restructuring of short-term debt instruments.
· Huhnsik represented a Korean conglomerate in the formation of a $60 million Cayman Island partnership as an investment vehicle.
· Huhnsik is regularly called upon by foreign insurers to advise on U.S. insurance regulatory issues involving life and P&C companies.
Recent Speaking Engagements and Publications
· "The BP Disaster: The Flood of Oil has Stopped, Insurance Claims have Just Begun," author, Bloomberg Law Reports, September 2010.
· "Global Pandemic: Potential Economic Fallout from H1N1 influenza A," co-author, Insurance Law Center, LexisNexis, May 1, 2009.
· Presenter, "Insurance Implications of Climate Change," a webinar presented by Edwards Wildman Palmer's Insurance and Reinsurance Department on August 28, 2008.
· "Secondhand Asbestos," Risk Management, July 2008.
· "Update on Insurance", presenter, Lorman Seminars, February, 2008.
· Huhnsik is regularly called upon to speak at various industry and trade association conferences on legal issues related to the Pacific Rim. Most recently, he was a speaker and panelist for Asian Legal Briefing, an event run in association with a publication of the same name, which is dedicated to the study of core issues facing the practice of law in Asia.
· Huhnsik writes articles on various insurance related topics for the Firm's Insurance & Reinsurance Update. He has also written "On the Eve of Tort Reform," for Insurance Day.
News & Publications
May 15, 2012, Huhnsik Chung Appointed Partner-in-Charge of Edwards Wildman's New York Office
October 7, 2010, EAPD Attorneys Selected For Inclusion in Super Lawyers 2010
September 28, 2010, Huhnsik Chung and Greg Hoffnagle Analyze the Coming Wave of Insurance Claims from the BP Oil Spill in Bloomberg Article
March 1, 2010, EAPD Attorneys Recognized in 2010 Super Lawyers Corporate Counsel Edition
July 7, 2008, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge Recognized in the American Lawyer
July 2008, Secondhand Asbestos
Risk Management Magazine
April 10, 2008, EAPD Represents Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited in $8.8 Billion Acquisition of Millennium Pharmaceuticals
December 2007, Insurance and Reinsurance Update - December 2007
Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP
September 1, 2004, Suspect packages
run off business
March 1, 2004, Insurance & Reinsurance Update - Spring 2004
Edwards & Angell, LLP
Besides Edwards Wildman
Huhnsik is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and was a founding partner of Westside Tae Kwon Do in the upper Westside. He is also an avid boater, saltwater fisherman and competitive trap shooter.
Events
August 28, 2008 , Insurance Implications of Climate Change
Industries
· Technology
Memberships
· American Bar Association
· Asian-American Bar Association of New York
· Association of the Bar of the City of New York
· New York State Bar Association