menu
Profile
Peter H. Bickford
vCard vCard
Personal Information
  • Address:
    50 Park Avenue
    12th Floor
    New York, NEW YORK 10016 United States
  • Phone:
    212-889-7384
  • Cell:
    917-991-5376
  • Email:
    pbickford@pbnylaw.com
Credentials
  • Attorney:
    Yes
  • Education:
    Admitted to Bar, New York, 1964; LL.B., SUNY at Buffalo (Law Review), 1964; LL.M. (in Taxation), NYU, 1967. Admitted to Practice in USDC's for Southern & Eastern Districts of New York and U.S. Tax Court.
  • Other Information:
    Author of Exchange: A Guide to an Alternative Insurance Market (NILS Publishing Co. 1987) and the chapter on specialized non-life entities in a multi-volume legal treatise published by Matthew Bender & Co., New York Insurance Law & Practice. Also a regular contributor to trade publications on insurance, reinsurance and insolvency issues.
Work Experience
  • Insurance Company: 6 years.
    Legal Department: 3 years. Associate General Counsel
    Executive Officer (CEO, COO, CFO, Chief Actuary): 3 years. Corporate Secretary
  • Reinsurance Company: 5 years.
    Executive Officer (CEO, COO, CFO, Chief Actuary): 5 years. Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel
  • Law Firm (Insurance/Reinsurance Practice): 27 years.
    Partner: 19 years.
    Associate: 5 years.
    Counsel: 3 years.
  • Independent/Other Relevant Experience: 15 years.
    Independent/Unaffiliated Arbitrator, Umpire and/or Mediator: 15 years.
Breakdown of Experience
  • Insolvencies
    15%
  • Regulatory/Licensing
    15%
  • Commutations
    10%
  • Life
    10%
  • Contract Wording
    10%
  • Excess/Surplus Lines
    10%
  • MGA/MGU
    10%
  • Captives/Risk Retention Groups
    5%
  • Third Party Administrator
    5%
  • Alternative/Self-Insurance/Risk Management
    5%
  • Commercial Liability
    2%
  • Commercial Property
    2%
  • Product/Consumer Warranties
    1%
By Market
  • U.S. Market:
    90%
  • U.K. Market:
    5%
  • Bermuda/Off-shore Market:
    5%

Insurance vs. Reinsurance: 40/60%
Treaty vs. Facultative Reinsurance: 60/40%

Mediation Experience
  • Number of Mediations
    As Counsel: 3
ARIAS Experience

Ethics Training, as Trainee: 1; March 2009

Arbitration Experience

Number of Arbitrations

As an Arbitrator: 26

As an Umpire: 35

Arbitrator Experience
Number of Arbitrations
5
Appointed as an arbitrator.
11
Acted as an arbitrator through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage.
4
Acted as an arbitrator through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage and the resolution of significant pre-hearing motions.
3
Acted as an arbitrator through to final award after completion of an evidentiary hearing of at least one full day and less than three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
3
Acted as an arbitrator through to final award after completion of an evidentiary hearing of at least three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
Umpire Experience
Number of Arbitrations
8
Appointed as an umpire.
7
Acted as an umpire through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage.
6
Acted as an umpire through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage and the resolution of significant pre-hearing motions.
6
Acted as an umpire through to final award after completion of an evidentiary hearing of at least one full day and less than three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
8
Acted as an umpire through to final award after completion of an evidentiary hearing of at least three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
Biography

Peter Bickford is an independent arbitrator and counselor to the insurance and reinsurance markets with over 40-years of industry experience. He has been an executive officer of both a life insurance company and of a property/casualty insurance and reinsurance facility (the New York Insurance Exchange) for which he had line responsibility for the contract and claims operations; was also the founder of a small boutique insurance and reinsurance law firm; and subsequently was the co-chair of the insurance corporate and regulatory group of a nationally recognized law firm. He has written and spoken on many insurance and reinsurance topics, primarily relating to regulatory and solvency issues. Peter has been an ARIAS-US certified arbitrator since 1997, a certified Umpire since 2009 and a certified neutral arbitrator as of 2020.