Anderson Kill & Olick, PC. is pleased to announce that Robert D. Chesler, a pioneer of insurance coverage litigation on behalf of policyholders, has joined the firm as a shareholder in the Newark, New Jersey office. He comes to Anderson Kill from Lowenstein Sandler PC.
Mr. Chesler represents policyholders in a broad variety of coverage claims against their insurance companies and advises companies with respect to their insurance programs. A leading participant in the birth of modern insurance law in the early 1980s, Mr. Chesler has also emerged as a leader in such new areas of insurance coverage as cyber-insurance, D&O, IP, privacy and “green” insurance.
Mr. Chesler has served as the attorney of record in more than 30 reported insurance decisions, representing clients including General Electric, Ingersoll-Rand, Westinghouse, Schering, BOC, Chrysler, and Unilever, as well as many small businesses including gas stations and dry cleaners. His numerous professional accolades include a top listing in Insurance Litigation: New Jersey in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, which dubs him a “top-notch attorney” and “dominant force in coverage disputes.”
A graduate of Harvard Law School, Mr. Chesler also holds a Ph.D. in history from Princeton University and has taught history at the college level. Maintaining a scholarly interest in insurance, he has published dozens of articles and is a frequent speaker on insurance issues. He is co-author of the seminal article Patterns of Judicial Interpretation of Insurance Coverage for Hazardous Waste Site Liability, 18 Rutgers L.J. 9 (1986), which has been cited by numerous courts, including seven state supreme courts and the Second Circuit.
Mr. Chesler co-authored Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property and Cyber Insurance Claims, published by Thomson West, and is former co-editor in chief of the Environmental Claims Journal. He has recently chaired seminars on both cyber-policies and food insurance issues for the ABA and NJSBA, and is currently Chair of the Insurance Sub-Committee of the American Intellectual Property Law Association. Bob also teaches a class on insurance law at Rutgers-Newark Law School. He is also a founding member of the American College of Coverage and Extra-Contractual Counsel.
Robert M. Horkovich, managing shareholder of Anderson Kill and co-chair of the firm’s Insurance Recovery Group, commented, “Bob Chesler has been in the vanguard establishing pro-policyholder law. The national recognition of his great success in obtaining insurance recoveries for policyholders in and outside of the court-room and his great success in the board-room helping policyholders assemble and understand insurance programs that meet their needs is well deserved. We are thrilled to have him aboard helping policyholders in New Jersey as well as nationally obtain the insurance recoveries to which they are justly entitled.”
In addition to his Harvard J.D., cum laude, and Princeton Ph.D., Mr. Chesler holds a B.A., summa cum laude, from Rutgers – the State University of New Jersey. He is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York.
