Steve Baker is a nationally recognized authority on the insurance and financial services industries, and the state and federal systems in which they operate. He advises insurers, reinsurers, insurance brokers and agents, risk managers, intermediaries, financial services institutions, and insurance industry trade associations, both on operational and compliance matters, and in dispute resolution. Steve has an in-depth knowledge of insurance, reinsurance, broker and agency issues, direct commercial litigation, workers compensation, insolvency, and rehabilitation proceedings, and is well-known for his experience in issues involving brokers, agents, and BGAs. He counsels clients across the insurance industry, including property/casualty, and life, health, and accident carriers. Over the course of his illustrious career, Steve has cumulatively spent more than a year exclusively on trial, advocating for his clients. He is a highly experienced litigator, having appeared in nearly every state in the country, in state and federal courts at the trial and appellate level, and before the Supreme Court of the United States and the Supreme Courts of Pennsylvania and Maryland. He is sought after nationally by clients, trade associations, and legal publications, as a speaker, thought leader, and commentator on emerging insurance-related legal issues. It is not surprising that one Chambers survey respondent named him “the dean of the life insurance bar.”
Steve advises and defends insurers at the local and national level, protecting and shaping the law in the insurance industry. He has represented clients as national defense counsel before courts, trade associations and state legislative committees in connection with exposures stemming from viaticals, life settlements, non-recourse premium financing, and stranger-originated life insurance transactions. He has achieved verdicts, and reduced liability, for his clients in the millions and multi-millions. In a nine-week-long jury trial alleging fraud by a partner in a medical device supplier joint venture, Steve won a multi-million dollar verdict for his client, including over $1 million in punitive damages. Leading a team, including MBK Partner Jack Dempsey, Steve significantly reduced liability for a credit life insurer on claims of significant exposure in West Virginia. Despite the case coming in the wake of a nine-figure verdict against an insurer in a very similar matter, Steve’s team successfully minimized his insurer client’s liability to achieve a low six-figure verdict. Steve was also instrumental in the landmark United States Supreme Court decision in Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, as the principal author of a successful petition for certiorari and a major contributor to a successful brief on the merits in the case.
Steve has earned a reputation as a lawyer who thinks outside the box. Since the 1990s, Steve, and teams under his leadership, have literally made the law on emerging insurance legal issues, including structured settlement factoring, viaticals, stranger-originated life insurance, and annuity sales practices. He has influenced the law by his advocacy before courts and legislative committees, and his advice to clients on how they can react to proposed legislation. He has impacted the way the industry does business by his practical risk avoidance advice, including the introduction of emerging exposure forums at which a client’s legal and business teams proactively identify and mitigate potential business exposures. With his deep connections and his innate understanding of the law and business of the insurance industry, Steve is an asset who creates value for each and every client.ber of the American Bar Association and the Philadelphia Bar Association. In addition, he is a director at the Royer-Greaves School for the Blind and has served as the trial team coach at The Episcopal Academy.
Representative Matters
· National Representation of Life Insurers - Provides counsel, analyzes claims, and defends litigation nationally for several life insurers.
· Defeated Constitutional Challenge to Statute - Represented group of insurers in defending a New Jersey action raising a constitutional challenge to an insurance-related statute. The case was dismissed.
· Unbroken String of Defense Verdicts - As regional liability defense counsel, responsible for an unbroken three-year string of defense verdicts.
· Making the Law on Forum Non Conveniens - Prepared successful petition for certiorari and brief on merits in landmark U.S. Supreme Court case.
Publication
09/10/2013 Client Alert Texas Court Departs From Previous Decisions: Investments in Life Settlements are Securities
08/29/2013 EIUL Alert CDA v. Global One
08/21/2013 Client Alert Life Settlement Investors Sue Auditor
12/19/2012 Life Insurance & Annuities Client Alert Pension Factoring Alert
10/09/2012 Life Insurance & Annuities Client Alert Financial Fraud Alert
10/03/2012 Life Insurance & Annuities Client Alert Financial Fraud Alert
09/20/2012 Life Insurance & Annuities Client Alert Financial Fraud Alert
08/14/2012 Life Insurance & Annuities Client Alert Financial Fraud Alert
08/02/2012 Life Insurance & Annuities Client Alert Financial Fraud Alert
05/17/2012 Client Alert Suit Filed Against Auditor of Investment Fund for Deficient Auditing of Madoff-Managed Assets
10/18/2011 Financial Fraud Alert US Attorney Files Superseding Indictment Against Costa Rican Company, Its President And Its Auditer for Alleged $670 million Fraudulent Scheme
9/2/2011 Financial Fraud Alert SEC Files Suit Against Alleged Orchestrator of Oil and Gas Investment Ponzi Scheme
5/13/2011 Financial Fraud Alert U.S. Attorney Indicts Three in Alleged $52.5 Million Ponzi Scheme
4/7/2011 Financial Fraud Alert SEC Brings Suit Against Alleged Mastermind of Life Settlement
3/7/2011 Financial Fraud Alert Bank Seeks Insurance Coverage for Losses Allegedly Stemming from Fraudulent Loans to Ponzi Schemer
3/3/2011 Financial Fraud Alert Receiver of Failed Life Settlement Company Brings Suit Against Agents
2/17/2011 Financial Fraud Alert Financial Fraud: Risks to Ancillary Service Providers and Other Outsiders
2/11/2011 Financial Fraud Alert Financial Fraud: Risks to Ancillary Service Providers and Other Outsiders
1/11/2011 Financial Fraud Alert Financial Fraud: Risks to Ancillary Service Providers and Other Outsiders
9/20/2007 Structured Settlement Update
8/2/2007 Structured Settlement Update
05/22/2007 Structured Settlement Update
5/8/2007 Structured Settlement Update
1/10/2007 Structured Settlement Update
10/3/2006 Structured Settlement Update
3/6/2006 Structured Settlement Update
02/01/2006 The LTC Insurance Link A Newsletter of Legal Developments That Impact Long-Term Care Insurers
1/6/2006 Insurance Class Action Alert
11/16/2005 Insurance Class Action Alert
10/26/2005 The LTC Insurance Link Senior Issues Task Force Considers Eliminating or Altering the Fraud Exception to the Incontestability Provision in Long-Term Care Insurance Policies
10/25/2005 The LTC Insurance Link Delaware Insurance Department Launches Probe of Long-Term Care Insurance Rate Increases
01/31/2005 The LTC Insurance Link First Long Term Care Insurance Summit Held in Chicago
8/18/2004 The LTC Insurance Link A Quarterly Newsletter of Legal Developments that Impact Long-Term Care Insurers
10/17/2002 Insurance Class Action Alert
9/18/2002 Structured Settlement Update - September 2002
5/3/2002 Insurance Class Action Alert
Speaking Engagements
09/11/2012 2012 HighCap Sales Forum A Few Million Here, A Few Million There, and Before Long It's Real Money
05/09/2012 STOLI: "Over the Next Hill" ACLI Litigation Committee Meeting
01/02/2010 CLE Seminar The Secondary Market Academy
11/19/2009 CLE Seminar The Secondary Market Academy
11/09/2009 The Secondary Market Academy CLE Seminar: Stranger Originated Life Insurance
11/04/2009 CLE Seminar The Secondary Market Academy
10/19/2009 American Council for Life Insurers 2009 Annual Conference
10/08/2009 CLE Seminar The Secondary Market Academy
08/12/2009 CLE Seminar The Secondary Market Academy
7/22/2009 American Council for Life Insurers Compliance and Legal Sections Annual Meeting
12/11/2007 Mealey's Life Insurance in the Secondary Market Conference
02/27/2007 Intercompany Long Term Care Insurance Conference Class Action Vaccination
