Professional Liability Risks & Trends Series: Andrea DeField

Throughout this ongoing blog series, PLUS collaborates with seasoned industry experts to delve into the latest market trends. In this particular installment, we shine a spotlight on Andrea DeField, a distinguished partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. During our discussion with Andrea, she generously imparted insightful perspectives on the ever-evolving landscape of cyber and risk management markets, offering a unique viewpoint informed by her wealth of professional experience.

To start, please tell us a little about your role and experience in the professional liability insurance (PLI) industry.

I have been working in the PLI industry for going on thirteen years, primarily as insurance coverage counsel for policyholders. I now co-lead Hunton’s cyber insurance practice, but also work in other lines of coverage. Over time, my practice has evolved given our client’s needs and the changing market. While initially, my practice was focused on litigation, arbitration, and dispute resolution, a large portion of my current practice is focused on proactive advice and counseling clients on insurance needs, policy audits and selection, the application process, and ensuring that our clients’ policies, particularly cyber insurance, complement their incident response plans. We also counsel clients from discovery of a cyber incident or other catastrophe (or service of a suit against them) through insurance claim submission and ultimate claim resolution.

Are there any current trends in the industry that you are keeping an eye on?

Given the recent SEC rules and the current privacy and breach class action climate, we’re particularly focused on ensuring our clients have robust coverage for not only responding to cyber incidents, but also for follow-on regulatory investigations and litigation. This requires analyzing not only cyber coverage, but how D&O policies may respond, too. We’re also focused on coverage for tracking software risks and biometrics suits, and ensuring clients understand the coverage their policies offer or don’t offer.

What makes these trends worth keeping an eye on?

Federal regulators have been very active this year, particularly with respect to cyber incidents. In addition, plaintiffs lawyers continue to come up with new theories in privacy and cybersecurity litigation. This risk climate compels policyholders to analyze their coverage anew every year to understand exactly how it will respond to both cyber and privacy risks, including how new endorsements or sublimits may impact that coverage and what other coverage may be available on the cyber market or under “traditional” policies.

What are the top emerging risks for the PLI industry?

Cyber and privacy risks continue to dominate board room discussions and risk mangers’ minds. Ensuring robust coverage for these risks, and ensuring that emerging risks don’t fall through the gaps between policies, is becoming increasingly important for policyholder clients as policy forms and endorsements evolve.

If someone is interested in learning more about these topics are there other resources you would recommend for more information?

I read Business Insurance and Law360 daily for the latest updates on coverage case law. IBM’s annual Cost of a Data Breach Report is also a phenomenal resource for understanding the scope and cost of cyber incidents in different jurisdictions and industries. For executive protection and D&O updates, Kevin LaCroix’s D&O Diary is a necessary weekly read. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t shout out our own Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog at www.huntoninsurancerecoveryblog.com and the PLUS Blog, as both being great resources, as well.

Andrea DeField

Partner, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP