Attorneys

Jean M. Lawler is the Managing Partner of Murchison & Cumming, LLP and serves as Co-Chair of the Firm’s Insurance Law Practice Group and Chair of its Business Transactions Practice Group. Her practice ranges from advising businesses on transactional matters and risk assessment to providing insurance companies with underwriting, coverage and claims handling advice and representation in complex coverage and bad faith litigation. Ms. Lawler is AV rated by Martindale Hubbell and has been recognized as a "Southern California Super Lawyer." She is also listed in "Who's Who of American Women" and "Who's Who in American Law."

With a varied background and a penchant for bringing practical, creative and efficient solutions to legal issues, Ms. Lawler handles contract matters and negotiations; provides risk management evaluations; advises insurers regarding insurance coverage, underwriting and regulatory issues; and regularly represents insurers in insurance and bad faith litigation, at trial and on appeal. She has served as an arbitrator and expert witness in matters involving insurance law, and is a certified mediator.

Reflective of her involvement with cutting-edge issues and developing areas of coverage law, published appellate decisions in her cases include Mitchell v. Scott Wetzel Services (1991) 227 Cal. App. 3rd 1474, Hartford Fire Ins. Co. v. Irene Macri (1992) 4 Cal.4th 318, In Re Circuit Breaker Litigation (C.D. Cal. 1997) 984 F. Supp. 1267, A-H Plating v. American Nat’l Fire Ins. (1997) 57 Cal. App. 4th 427, St. Mary Medical Center v. Cristiano (C.D. Cal. 1989) 724 F. Supp. 732, and Century Surety Co. v. Crosby Ins., Inc. (2004) 124 Cal. App. 4th 116 and Essex Ins. Co. v. Five Star Dye House (2006) 38 Cal. 4th 1252, in addition to many other non-published decisions.

Ms. Lawler is a Past President (2004-2005) of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel (FDCC) and served on the Board of Directors for both the Defense Research Institute (DRI) and Lawyers for Civil Justice (LCJ) from 2003-2006. She presently serves on the Board of Directors of the FDCC Foundation. As President of the FDCC, Ms. Lawler provided testimony at hearings held by the Judicial Committee charged with recommending changes to Congress of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure regarding electronic discovery; oversaw the FDCC’s co-sponsorship of the 2005 “National Summit on the Right to Trial by Jury,” held in Las Vegas, NV; and was a representative at a legal seminar co-sponsored by the FDCC with the British Insurance Law Association, held at Lloyds Library.

She is also a member of the State Bar of California, the Oregon State Bar, the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel (ASCDC), the Association of Defense Trial Attorneys (ADTA) and the Loss Executives Association (LEA). She has served as the Chair of the US Law Network’s Insurance and Bad Faith Committee and is a member of DRI’s Insurance Law Committee. She remains active on the Insurance Coverage, Extra-Contractual Liability, Property Insurance, Reinsurance, Excess & Surplus Lines, and Trial Tactics Substantive Law Sections of the FDCC.

A frequent author and speaker, Ms. Lawler has been a presenter at educational seminars sponsored by the DRI, FDCC, California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), Excess/Surplus Lines Claims Association, FDCC Litigation Management College, Lawyers for Civil Justice, PLRB, West Coast Casualty Construction Defect Seminars and the National Business Institute, to name a few. She regularly provides in-house seminars for clients, including certification for insurers on the California Fair Claims Settlement Regulations.