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Howard D. Denbin
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Personal Information
  • Address:
    2727 Overbrook Terrace
    Ardmore, PENNSYLVANIA 19003 United States
  • Phone:
    610-649-9568
  • Cell:
    484-437-7243
  • Email:
    handlsden@aol.com
Credentials
  • Attorney:
    Yes
  • Education:
    JD, Case Western Reserve University; BA, Union College
  • Designations:
    Admitted to practice in New York and Pennsylvania. Admitted in Federal Courts - Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • Other Information:
    Member of Reinsurance Industry Arbitration Task Force; Instructor for Insurance Society of Philadelphia CLE course on "Reinsurance Arbitrations".
Work Experience
  • Insurance Company: 25 years.
    Legal Department: 25 years.
  • Law Firm (Insurance/Reinsurance Practice): 8 years.
    Associate: 8 years.
  • Insurance-related Firms: 1 year.
    1 year. Assistant General Counsel , Law Department
  • Independent/Other Relevant Experience: 8 years.
    Independent/Unaffiliated Arbitrator, Umpire and/or Mediator: 8 years. ARIAS U.S.Certified Arbitrator/ Consultant and Attorney
Breakdown of Experience
  • Asbestos
    15%
  • Workers' Compensation
    10%
  • Toxic Tort
    10%
  • Insolvencies
    10%
  • Environmental/Pollution
    10%
  • Commutations
    5%
  • Third Party Administrator
    5%
  • Professional Liability/Errors &, Omissions
    5%
  • MGA/MGU
    5%
  • Bad Faith/ECO
    5%
  • Life
    5%
  • Contract Wording
    5%
  • Directors &, Officers
    2%
  • Accident & Health
    2%
  • Alternative/Self-Insurance/Risk Management
    2%
  • Architects &, Engineers
    2%
  • Construction Defects
    1%
  • Financial Guarantee
    1%
By Market
  • U.S. Market:
    45%
  • U.K. Market:
    45%
  • Bermuda/Off-shore Market:
    5%
  • European Market:
    5%

Insurance vs. Reinsurance: 30/70%
Treaty vs. Facultative Reinsurance: 75/25%
Former Insurance or Reinsurance Company Officer

Mediation Experience
  • Number of Mediations
    As Counsel: 9
ARIAS Experience

Workshops, as Trainee: 1; September 2004

ARIAS Conference Faculty: 5; Fall 2005; Spring 2007; December 2012, Spring 2014, Spring 2017

Other Approved Training:

Faculty: Educational Seminar - February 2011; March 2012

Arbitration Experience

Number of Arbitrations

As an Arbitrator: 169

As an Umpire: 3

As Outside Counsel: 150

As Employee Manager: 250

As Corporate Representative: 25

Arbitrator Experience
Number of Arbitrations
102
Appointed as an arbitrator.
10
Acted as an arbitrator through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage.
36
Acted as an arbitrator through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage and the resolution of significant pre-hearing motions.
1
Acted as an arbitrator through an evidentiary hearing of at least one full day and less than three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
1
Acted as an arbitrator through an evidentiary hearing of at least three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
5
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.
14
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
1
Appointed as an umpire.
1
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.
1
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.
Lead Counsel Experience
Number of Arbitrations
127
Retained and Acted as Lead Counsel, up to, but not including, the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage.
10
Acted as Lead Counsel through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage.
8
Acted as Lead Counsel through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage and the resolution of significant pre-hearing motions.
3
Acted as Lead Counsel 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.
2
Acted as Lead Counsel through to final award after completion of an evidentiary hearing of at least three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
Employee Manager Experience
Number of Arbitrations
193
Employee Manager of arbitration.
10
Employee Manager of arbitration through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage.
20
Employee Manager of arbitration through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage as well as significant motions before the panel, panel consultations, and interim awards, but not through the hearing briefs.
15
Employee Manager of arbitration through evidentiary hearing of at least one full day and less than three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
12
Employee Manager of arbitration through evidentiary hearing of at least three full day regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
Company Representative Experience
Number of Arbitrations
10
Appointed to act as Company Representative.
5
Company Representative in arbitration through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage.
5
Company Representative in arbitration through the organizational meeting or the arbitration has only reached this stage as well as significant motions before the panel, panel consultations, and interim awards, but not through the hearing briefs.
3
Company Representative in arbitration through evidentiary hearing of at least one full day and less than three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
2
Company Representative in arbitration through evidentiary hearing of at least three full days regarding the substantive merits of the parties' dispute.
Biography

Howard Denbin is an ARIAS-U.S. Certified Arbitrator and an attorney with over 30 years of experience in the insurance and reinsurance industry. As outside counsel, in-house counsel and arbitrator, Mr. Denbin has addressed a wide variety of legal issues and resolved hundreds of reinsurance disputes from ceded and assumed positions.

Until April 2014, Mr. Denbin was Associate General Counsel – Reinsurance of Legion Insurance Company (In Liquidation). In that position, Mr. Denbin directly arbitrated, litigated and mediated reinsurance disputes as lead and sole counsel of record, as part of an "expedited" in-house program Mr. Denbin created. Mr. Denbin designed this program as a holistic approach to expediting reinsurance recoveries by systematically identifying matters for arbitration early on and conducting the resulting arbitrations in-house cost effectively, while simultaneously working with the business operations in "parallel tracks" to facilitate collections and commutations. Mr. Denbin also headed the Legion Reinsurance Legal Team, which was responsible for all reinsurance matters, including managing arbitrations, litigation and mediations; advising on recoveries, assumed claims, commutations and audits; addressing cut-through claims and other liquidation issues. Prior to joining Legion Mr. Denbin served as in-house reinsurance litigation counsel at Resolute Management, Mid-Atlantic Division, as well as predecessor operations of the ACE and CIGNA Groups of companies. At ACE, Mr. Denbin had responsibility for reinsurance contract wordings and supporting business operations in negotiating and placing reinsurance. He first developed and implemented an expedited in-house arbitration program at CIGNA.

Mr. Denbin began his reinsurance career in 1985 at the boutique law firm of Lanzone & Kramer in New York, where he found his niche in reinsurance disputes. Prior to that, he was a trial lawyer at Tell, Cheser & Breitbart prosecuting and defending property damage insurance defense and subrogation cases. He successfully tried cases to judges and juries.

Mr. Denbin is admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New York, as well as the federal district courts in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He taught a CLE course entitled "Reinsurance Arbitrations" for the Insurance Society of Philadelphia.

Mr. Denbin holds a B.A. from Union College and a J.D. from Case Western Reserve Law School. At Case Western, he served as Executive Editor of the Journal of International Law and Canada-United States Law Journal, and Team Advisor to the Niagara International Moot Court Team.