Arnold & Porter LLP is now poised to become a bigger insurance regulatory player after the implosion of Dewey & LeBoeuf, the white shoe insurance practice law firm, brought about the arrival of storied insurance Charles (Charley) Landgraf as a partner in Arnold & Porter’s Washington office.
Dewey & LeBoeuf filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy May 28, late on the Memorial Day holiday after news of financial problems, compensation issues and defections became commonplace in the press.
Landgraf is widely considered one of the top insurance lawyers in Washington—and one of the nicest, too, a meticulous man who has been methodically building a stone wall fence at his working Shenandoah farm, collecting the granite rocks himself with his tractor on weekends.
Landgraf has many insurance clients from his career as a managing partner of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s Washington, DC office, and is looking forward to bringing them with him to Arnold & Porter, along with new ones.
There was stiff competition from other Washington regulatory practices to hire him.
Arnold & Porter, a well-regarded banking and international policy and foreign affairs firm, already has major insurance clients, but the addition of Landgraf gives it a huge and more high-profile Washington regulatory presence.
Landgraf regularly practices before the executive branch, including the Departments of Treasury, Commerce, and Transportation, the Executive Office of the President, and federal financial regulatory agencies, his new firm notes.
Landgraf has represented many companies and trade associations as a top insurance regulatory lawyer, including Lloyd’s of London, the Association of Dutch Insurers, the Financial Services Roundtable, and Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.
Landgraf also played a key role in representing clients in the development and passage of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 and the development of insurance measures in the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010. Landgraf helped craft language for clients working with legislators on Title V (the insurance section which also established the Federal Insurance Office) of Dodd-Frank.