Lawrence W. Pollack, Esq. serves as a neutral arbitrator, mediator, Special Master, and Discovery Master of complex business/commercial and insurance matters. Mr. Pollack specializes in enabling, through negotiation or arbitral proceedings, the resolution of difficult disputes with significant claims among multiple parties with divergent interests.

Mr. Pollack has forty years of experience that he employs at JAMS to address commercial disputes, business, partnership and joint venture dissolution actions, legal malpractice matters, product liability cases, aviation controversies, and sophisticated issues in all aspects of domestic and international insurance and reinsurance, including those relative to first party and third party claims, subrogation, policy language, regulation, and business strategy.

Legal 500 has observed that Mr. Pollack is described by both policyholders and their insurers as “personable and thoroughly commercial, perfect for insurance litigation.” As a result, Mr. Pollack is often the neutral selected by both policyholder and insurance counsel for dispute resolution services.

Mr. Pollack joined JAMS in 2010 after twenty-eight years in private practice, at Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP and its predecessor firms, LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae LLP, and LeBoeuf Lamb Leiby & MacRae. Mr. Pollack’s practice often required travel to Europe for work on cases venued in the U.S. involving parties based overseas. By virtue of that experience, Mr. Pollack is a member of the JAMS International panel, and serves as a neutral in matters with an international dimension. In 1999, Mr. Pollack began a 10-year service as Co-Chairman of his firm’s Litigation Department. Mr. Pollack became a member of the firm’s Executive Committee in 2003 and served on that committee until his retirement from the firm in 2009.

ADR Areas of Expertise

• Antitrust
• Arbitration
• Aviation
• Business/Commercial
• Entertainment/Sports
• Health Care
• Insurance and Re-insurance
• International
• Maritime
• Political Risk
• Professional Liability

Representative Matters

• Advocacy
• Negotiated settlement of insurance claims concerning alleged respiratory injury following the clean-up of the September 11, 2001 disaster brought against numerous London-based insurers by the World Trade Center Captive on behalf of the City of New York
• Negotiated settlement of insurance claims lodged by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey with certain London insurers, in relation to the substantial property damage arising out of the September 11, 2001 disaster
• Negotiated settlement of claims in Insurance Antitrust Litigation against foreign reinsurer group (nineteen parties), following ruling by United States Supreme Court
• Litigated and eventually negotiated settlement of high profile insurance recovery action for construction defect arising out of a massive explosion on an oil platform off the coast of Brazil
• Argued leading case on parameters of federal court jurisdiction under the Air Traffic Safety and Stabilization Act, following the September 11, 2011 disaster
• Settlement of intellectual property claims in large-scale case pending in federal court in Denver, Colorado, and subsequent protection of settlement agreement against charges of unenforceability
• Arbitration as lead trial counsel, and provision of advice, in matters relating to healthcare insurance coverage and quantum under medical provider contracts
• Arbitration as lead trial counsel in six (confidential) matters involving extended warranty reinsurance coverage provided by certain London Market reinsurers, and ongoing provision of advice concerning related issues prior to retirement from practice as an advocate
• Litigated and eventually negotiated settlement (following favorable verdict after six-week jury trial) of major bad faith insurance coverage action that implicated all aspects of the pertinent Florida law
• Arbitration
• Appointed arbitrator in at least sixty proceedings, either as sole arbitrator or member of tripartite arbitration panels, including service in multiple matters as panel chair, for business/commercial, legal malpractice, and insurance disputes, among others
• Mediation
• Mediated various disputes involving towers of excess insurance coverage for underlying claims relating to pharmaceutical product liability, alleged violation of law, including SEC violations, alleged breach of contract, and a range of tortious conduct
• Mediated $50M coverage dispute between two oil companies with respect to MTBE losses under Bermuda form policy
• Mediated a reinsurance dispute arising from claims made against airlines involved in the September 11, 2001 tragedy
• Mediated numerous claims for insurance coverage arising from damage caused by Superstorm Sandy and from damage caused by California wildfires
• Mediated major claims by airline manufacturer against various international joint venture participants
• Mediated insurance coverage issues arising from major sports-related concussion litigation
• Mediated numerous "long tail" matters involving asbestos, talc, pollution and health hazard claims under insurance and reinsurance policies
• Mediated a number of disputes involving mortgage-backed securities between multiple parties, including banks and title insurance companies
• Mediated multiple claims between and among insurance policyholders, brokers, managing agents, and insurers arising out of administration issues
• Mediated a variety of cases involving representation and warranty insurance coverage
• Mediated various matters involving diverse claims of legal malpractice
• Mediated complex aviation insurance claims for alleged loss of certain aircraft components
• Mediated claims of breach of distribution agreement between a Canadian pharmaceutical distributor and a U.S. based pharmaceutical supplier
• Mediated class action claims in multiple contexts
• Mediated claims between a life insurance provider and a life settlement company
• Mediated breach and antitrust claims between luxury auto dealerships
• Mediated a dispute regarding alleged insurance coverage over multiple years for claims of black lung disease
• Mediated claims regarding workers compensation coverage, including a claim by an insurer against its managing general agent
• Special Master
• Appointed Special Master in UBS Securities LLC et al v. Highland Capital Management, LP et al (New York Supreme Court, Commercial Division)
• Appointed Special Master in insurance dispute to assess privilege claims

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

• Completed Virtual ADR training conducted by the JAMS Institute, the training arm of JAMS
• Certified Arbitrator, ARIAS U.S.
• Panel Member, ARIAS (U.K.)
• Who’s Who Legal: Commercial Mediation, 2023
• The International Who's Who Legal: Mediation, 2019
• The International Who’s Who of Insurance & Reinsurance Lawyers, 2005-2019
• Best Lawyers in America, 2007-2024
• Super Lawyers, 2007-2010, 2014-2015

Background and Education

• Partner, Dewey & LeBoeuf, 2007-2009
  • Co-Chairman, Litigation Department
  • Member, Executive Committee
• Partner, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, 1995-2007
• Co-Chairman, Litigation Department, 1999-2007
• Member, Executive Committee, 2003-2007
• Counsel to the Firm
• Partner, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby & MacRae, 1988-1995
• Associate, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby & MacRae, 1981-1987
• Law Clerk, Honorable Henry Bramwell, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, 1979-1981
• J.D., Brooklyn Law School, 1979 (Second Circuit Review Editor, Law Review)
• B.A., High Honors, University of Rochester, 1976