Transactional Risk

Taft’s Transactional Risk Practice consists of a multidisciplinary group of attorneys who assist buyers and underwriters on all transactional risk insurance products from quote through binding of the policy and analyzing and resolving claims against these policies. We have advised on hundreds of policies representing tens of billions of dollars in insurance coverage. The Transactional Risk Practice Group covers a wide range of non-regulated and highly regulated industries alike, drawing on our experience in virtually every subject matter area of expertise at the firm, including specialty areas such as Health Care, FinTech, Franchising, Real Estate, Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), Renewable and Traditional energy, Government Contracting, and Telecommunications. The Transactional Risk Practice Group includes attorneys with backgrounds in Tax, Accounting and Finance to offer an integrated product to clients.

Underwriter Representation

Our underwriter-side representation includes advising clients on strategic matters, working hand in hand in addressing deal-specific risks in the underwriting process, and reviewing and addressing claims. Our practice is built to address the competing demands for speed and accuracy underwriters require to set themselves apart in an increasingly competitive industry. For this reason, we carefully consider each step in the deal from engagement to binding in developing “turnkey” processes designed to ensure we provide consistent, concise and commercial advice enabled by adoption of the latest legal software, and customized instances of modern collaboration tools and work-flow management software. Underwriters come to us for guidance on a number of products, including:

• Representations and warranties insurance (RWI) policies, including:
  • Buy-side policies
  • Sell-side policies
  • Unique transactions (including carve-outs, distressed sales, fund secondary sales, and minority purchase transactions)
• Tax insurance policies, including:
  • Renewable energy tax credit transactions
  • Mergers and acquisition (M&A) tax insurance transactions
  • SALT risks (bolstered by our presence in 12 states and the District of Columbia and 24 offices)
• Bespoke transactional liability policies, including:
  • Contingent risk insurance
  • Unique product liability policies

As one of very few law firms with deep experience in both RWI and tax insurance, we are the go-to firm for hybrid RWI and tax insurance policies.

Buyer Representation

The depth and scale of our underwriter-side representation serves a synergistic role to our buyer-side representation. We regularly advise strategic M&A buyers, private equity buyers, renewable energy developers and tax equity syndicators in obtaining transactional risk insurance that is appropriate in terms of coverage and protection. The transactional work undertaken by our “insured-side” teams often include the same experts supporting our underwriters, ensuring we keep up with the latest trends in transactional risk insurance. Our claims practice also benefits from the relationships our underwriting team has with insurers to foster a more amicable and streamlined claims process.