William T. Barker is a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, L.L.P., with a nationwide practice representing insurers in complex litigation, including matters relating to coverage, claims handling, sales practices, risk classification and selection, agent relationships, and regulatory matters. He is the co-author of New Appleman Insurance Bad Faith Litigation, Second Edition. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the New Appleman on Insurance Law Library Edition and a Consulting Author of the New Appleman Insurance Law Practice Guide. He has published over 100 articles and speaks frequently on insurance and litigation subjects. He was a Contributing Editor and then Editor of Bad Faith Law Report until that publication merged with Insurance Litigation Reporter, where he is currently Senior Contributing Editor and Editorial Board Director. He has been described as the leading lawyer commentator on the connections between procedure and insurance. See Charles Silver & Kent Syverud, The Professional Responsibilities of Insurance Defense Lawyers, 45 Duke L.J. 255, 257 n.4 (1995). Mr. Barker is a member of the American Law Institute.
Gauri Chopra is an associate in the Litigation practice of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, LLP's Chicago office. Her practice focuses on insurance coverage litigation and counseling, with an emphasis on complex insurance litigation in both domestic and foreign arenas. Her experience covers many aspects of insurance coverage in both third-party liability and first-party property contexts, and includes the areas of general liability, excess liability, directors and officers liability, product liabilities, catastrophic loss, reinsurance matters and long-tail exposures such as environmental, asbestos and other toxic torts.
Prior to joining Sonnenschein, Ms. Chopra was vice president and claims counsel at ACE Bermuda Insurance Ltd. in Hamilton, Bermuda, where she was involved with successfully handling many of the company’s largest coverage disputes and regularly counseled internal clients on claims and underwriting issues. Prior to ACE Bermuda, Ms. Chopra was a litigation associate at a New Jersey law firm where she primarily represented insurance companies in coverage disputes in state and federal trial and appellate courts.
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, LLP, regularly handles high-risk and complex matters for financial and insurance industry clients. Staffed with seasoned litigators and former insurance regulators, Sonnenschein lawyers are relentless advocates for its clients’ interests.
For more than 70 years, Sonnenschein has partnered with insurance companies to understand their business and legal needs. Recent confirmation of Sonnenschein's outstanding insurance industry qualifications came in Chambers USA: ’s Leading Lawyers for Business. The 2008 edition identifies Sonnenschein as one of the top firms in the country representing insurers on their most complex matters. The Chambers description speaks for itself:
Considered “a go-to resource,” Sonnenschein has a major practice in this field. Insurance has been a priority of the firm for many years, and its competitors accept that it has fashioned itself into “a major competitor and a worthy opponent for anyone.” Commentators declare that “there is no insurance issue that it doesn’t have a wealth of experience in,” and praise it for its depth and reach. Its experts are to be found in California, Illinois and New York , but the firm offers a nationally integrated service, drawing upon specialized expertise and knowledge in its various offices as and when required. The lawyers themselves are “passionate, enthusiastic and edgy, constantly sparking ideas off each other.” According to clients, “the group has enough talented and experienced lawyers to handle numerous complex and large matters at any one time.”
When products are attacked, when lawsuits go national, when regulators join the fray, when reputations are on the line, leading businesses turn to Sonnenschein.