Cozen O'Connor

162 Best Lawyers awards

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Awarded Practice Areas

Insurance Law Litigation - Insurance

Biography

Gary Gassman focuses his practice in the areas of insurance coverage counseling and litigation and is co-chair of the firm’s Professional Liability Practice Group. For more than 20 years, his practice has been concentrated on management liability including directors and officers and entity liability, employment practices liability, fiduciary liability, and various types of professional liability and commercial general liability coverage. He also has significant reinsurance experience. Gary serves as national coverage counsel for a number of insurance companies in the management of directors and officers and professional liability claims and litigation. He has represented insurers and reinsurers in coverage litigation and domestic and international arbitration and in general business and compliance matters. He regularly engages in management liability and miscellaneous professional liability insurance policy, application and endorsement interpretation and drafting, and has conducted numerous claim, system and underwriting audits for insurers and reinsurers. He also defends various types of professionals in litigated matters.

Gary speaks at insurance coverage seminars throughout the county and is active in several lead organizations. He has taught legal writing as an adjunct professor of law and regularly publishes in the areas of corporate governance, securities laws, and international and domestic D&O, E&O, and EPL exposures and trends. Gary currently serves as Diversity Officer of the American Bar Association, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), co-chair of the TIPS Insurance Institute Task Force, and leader of the Cozen O'Connor LGBTQ Attorney Resource Group.

Work History:

Cozen O'Connor (2015 - Present)

Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick & Person LLP (1999 - 2015)

Kenneth T. Garvey & Associates (1996 - 1999)

Fellowship, Center for Information Technology & Privacy Law (1993 - 1995)

Cozen O'Connor

162 Best Lawyers awards

Cozen O'Connor logo

Overview

  • University of Illinois Chicago, John Marshall Law School, J.D., graduated 1993
  • Indiana University Bloomington, B.A., graduated 1990

  • Illinois, Bar (1993)
  • Arizona, Bar (2015)
  • Wisconsin, Bar (2015)

  • ABA, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section’s (TIPS) - Diversity Officer – 2017-2019, Council Member, 2015-2018; Chair, Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee, 2015-2016; Chair, Corporate Counsel Outreach Task Force, 2013-2015; Chair, Corporate Counsel Committee, 2012-2013; Chair, Task Force on Corporate Go
  • CGL Reporter Editorial Board - Member, 2007-2015
  • Professional Liability Underwriting Society - Member, 1999-Present
  • Defense Research Institute - Member, 2000-2013
  • The John Marshall Law School - Adjunct Professor of Law on Legal Writing and Oral Argument Technique, August 1996-December 2001
  • American College of Coverage & Extracontractual Counsel - Member, 2018 - Present

  • Federal Trial Bar for the Northern Distric of Illinois (1995)
  • U.S. District Court -- Northern District of Illinois (1993)
  • U.S. District Court -- Eastern District of Michigan
  • U.S. District Court -- Eastern District of Wisconsin
  • Illinois, Bar (1993)
  • Arizona, Bar (2015)
  • Wisconsin, Bar (2015)
  • ABA, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section’s (TIPS) - Diversity Officer – 2017-2019, Council Member, 2015-2018; Chair, Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee, 2015-2016; Chair, Corporate Counsel Outreach Task Force, 2013-2015; Chair, Corporate Counsel Committee, 2012-2013; Chair, Task Force on Corporate Go
  • CGL Reporter Editorial Board - Member, 2007-2015
  • Professional Liability Underwriting Society - Member, 1999-Present
  • Defense Research Institute - Member, 2000-2013
  • The John Marshall Law School - Adjunct Professor of Law on Legal Writing and Oral Argument Technique, August 1996-December 2001
  • American College of Coverage & Extracontractual Counsel - Member, 2018 - Present
  • University of Illinois Chicago, John Marshall Law School, J.D., graduated 1993
  • Indiana University Bloomington, B.A., graduated 1990
  • Federal Trial Bar for the Northern Distric of Illinois (1995)
  • U.S. District Court -- Northern District of Illinois (1993)
  • U.S. District Court -- Eastern District of Michigan
  • U.S. District Court -- Eastern District of Wisconsin

Client Testimonials

Awards & Focus

Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2026 for work in:
  • Insurance Law
  • Litigation - Insurance
Additional Areas of Practice:
  • Arbitration
  • Commercial Litigation
  • International Arbitration - Commercial
  • International Arbitration - Governmental
Awards:
  • ABA, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) Leadership Academy – 2008-2009

Additional Information

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Case History

Cases
  • Represented insurers with respect to coverage for underlying wrongful death action
Represented insurers with respect to coverage for underlying wrongful death action against property management company under EPL and E&O policies worth in excess of $30 million.
  • Negotiated class action settlement against a property management company
Negotiated a nominal settlement in a coverage dispute arising from a class action lawsuit alleging California Civil Code and California Business and Professions Code violations against a property management company valued more than $5 million.
  • Favorably negotiated coverage dispute class-action lawsuit against an insurer
Favorably negotiated a six-figure settlement for an insurer in the coverage dispute component of an FCRA and California Investigative Consumer Reporting Agency Act class action lawsuit valued in excess of $20 million.

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