[Hiring] Senior Coverage Attorney @Encova Insurance

Role Description

The Senior Claims Coverage & General Counselor serves as the Claims organization’s senior legal and technical resource for insurance coverage, claim handling practices, coverage litigation, regulatory matters, extra-contractual exposure, legal process support, and emerging legal issues. The role provides practical guidance across all lines of business to promote timely, consistent, and technically sound claim decisions and outcomes.

• Provide timely legal and technical guidance on complex commercial and personal lines coverage matters, balancing applicable law, fair claim handling, and business considerations.
• Analyze policy language, endorsements, exclusions, claim facts, and applicable law; guide coverage investigations; prepare coverage opinions and related legal analyses; and review coverage communications.
• Advise Claims leadership on dispute-resolution approaches, extra-contractual exposure, bad-faith allegations, claim handling concerns, and other legal risks affecting claim outcomes.
• Serve as Claims’ senior technical resource for significant coverage litigation and declaratory judgment actions.
• Partner with Claims leadership, Legal, and outside counsel to develop and execute litigation and resolution strategies, including pleadings, discovery, mediation, settlement, budgets, and trial preparation.
• Evaluate outside counsel performance and legal expense to improve outcomes, reduce duplication, and manage allocated loss adjustment expense.
• Guide Claims responses to Department of Insurance complaints, regulatory inquiries, coverage disputes, market conduct examinations, and other regulatory reviews involving Claims operations.
• Support responses to subpoenas, records and discovery requests, and other legal process involving claim files; coordinate with Legal on matters requiring enterprise advice, company representation, privilege oversight, or Legal Department ownership.
• Monitor regulatory developments and claim handling requirements, and develop guidance and training to promote compliance and consistent practices.
• Promote consistent, technically sound coverage positions and claim handling practices across all lines of business.
• Participate in roundtables addressing complex coverage, exposure evaluation, litigation strategy, reserving, settlement authority, and claim handling issues.
• Assist in the development and maintenance of claim handling best practices, technical standards, coverage guidance, templates, and playbooks.
• Identify recurring coverage issues, legal and regulatory developments, and claim trends requiring guidance, training, escalation, or operational change.
• Support quality assurance and file reviews focused on coverage analysis, judgment, documentation, and decision-making, and serve as a trusted advisor to Claims leaders and professionals.
• Partner with Claims leadership to identify technical development needs and incorporate lessons from coverage matters, litigation, complaints, and regulatory reviews into training.
• Develop and deliver technical training, coverage resources, and learning tools; mentor claims professionals and leaders to strengthen expertise and judgment in coverage analysis, claim handling, regulatory requirements, extra-contractual risk, and emerging legal issues.
• Monitor judicial, regulatory, legislative, and industry developments affecting insurance coverage and claim handling, and advise Claims leadership on legal, operational, and risk management implications.
• Partner with Legal on matters requiring coordination, escalation, enterprise legal guidance, or broader risk management consideration.
• Partner with Underwriting and Legal to share claim-based insights and emerging loss trends; evaluate proposed policy language, endorsements, and coverage provisions; and recommend appropriate product or policy modifications.
• Support Claims initiatives involving new tools, processes, or workflows where coverage interpretation, legal risk, regulatory requirements, or claim handling standards are implicated.
• Handle appropriate coverage opinions, legal research, correspondence, and claim-related consultation internally to reduce reliance on outside coverage counsel.
• Establish referral criteria for outside coverage counsel and Legal Department involvement, and maintain effective relationships with legal service providers.
• Evaluate law firm performance, staffing, strategy, budgets, results, and legal spend to improve outcomes, reduce duplication, and manage allocated loss adjustment expense.
• Partner with Claims leadership and Reinsurance stakeholders on significant losses, coverage issues, treaty interpretation, reporting obligations, recoverability considerations, and matters affecting reinsurer relationships.

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school is required.
• Active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction and in good standing is required.
• CPCU, AIC, SCLA, or other relevant insurance industry designations are helpful.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience involving insurance coverage analysis, insurance litigation, claim-related legal support, or comparable property and casualty insurance experience is required.
• Extensive knowledge of commercial and personal lines insurance coverage, policy interpretation, and claim handling practices is required.
• Multi-line experience involving commercial auto, general liability, property, workers’ compensation, personal lines, umbrella, professional liability, or specialty coverages is preferred.
• Experience serving as coverage counsel, claims counsel, claim center general counselor, or in a similar role is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience preparing coverage opinions, reservation of rights letters, denial letters, and other coverage-related communications is required.
• Strong knowledge of coverage litigation, declaratory judgment actions, extra-contractual and bad-faith exposure, and applicable claim handling requirements is required.
• Knowledge of insurance regulatory matters, and legal processes including responding to Department of Insurance complaints, market conduct examinations, and subpoenas is required.
• Experience managing outside counsel, coverage litigation, and legal spending is preferred.
• Experience supporting underwriting or product teams in policy wording, endorsement development, or product review is preferred.
• Knowledge of reinsurance principles, reporting obligations, treaty interpretation, and recoverability considerations is preferred.
• Exceptional legal research, analytical, writing, communication, and presentation skills.
• Ability to translate complex legal and regulatory issues into clear, practical guidance for claims professionals and business leaders.
• Demonstrated ability to influence decisions, exercise sound judgment, and build effective partnerships across organizational levels and functions.
• Ability to manage multiple complex matters, prioritize effectively, and provide timely guidance in a fast-paced claims environment.
• Ability to handle confidential, sensitive, and potentially privileged matters with appropriate discretion and escalation.
• Experience developing and delivering technical training for claims professionals and leaders is preferred.

Benefits

• Health, Dental & Vision Insurance
• Company-provided life and income protection plans
• Eligibility to participate in a company incentive bonus program
• 401(k) Retirement Plan - 100% company match up to 7% on annual salary
• Paid Time Off, Paid Holidays, and Floating Holidays
• Flexible Work Arrangements - Hybrid and remote depending on the role