James S. Gkonos

Jim Gkonos focuses his practice on insurance and reinsurance regulatory matters, contract and treaty interpretation and reinsurance disputes. He is a certified reinsurance arbitrator. As a former division general counsel of a large domestic property and casualty carrier, Jim has significant experience with and knowledge of the regulatory issues facing domestic carriers. He was responsible for the drafting and interpretation of the reinsurance treaties placed annually by the division and has been involved in the commutation of hundreds of reinsurance treaties.

Jim assists clients on issues relating to financial guarantees, surety bonds and the intersection between insurance and the capital markets. He frequently represents clients that have problems and issues with insurance companies in runoff and liquidation. He has structured securitized international financial transactions backed by insurance guarantees and has substantial international experience in the restructure of financially impaired, insolvent or bankrupt entities. Jim also conducted, managed and supervised substantial litigation in the United Kingdom, Japan, China, Argentina, Brazil and the Virgin Islands and brings more than 25 years of domestic litigation experience to the Insurance Practice.

Jim also previously served for nine years as senior counsel advising the Rehabilitator of one of the largest insurance insolvencies in the United States - Mutual Fire Marine and Inland Insurance Company, In Rehabilitation. In that position, Jim was responsible for interpretation of insurance insolvency laws, negotiation and commutation of reinsurance treaties, documentation of more than 13,000 claim settlements and managing reinsurance arbitrations and the litigation against the insolvent company’s MGA's and accountants.

As complex regulations governing the insurance and re-insurance continue to evolve, Jim has become a frequent speaker and author on numerous insurance topics, including the impact of the subprime defaults on the insurance and capital markets, changes in state and federal regulatory environments and how the challenging economic climate impacts the insurance and financial markets.

He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Court of International Trade and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.