Global Policyholder Alliance launched to strengthen cross-border insurance dispute support
An alliance of 14 independent specialist law firms has been formed to provide coordinated legal advice to businesses involved in major insurance disputes across international jurisdictions.
The Global Policyholder Alliance (GPA) brings together leading policyholder-dispute practices across the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and other key insurance markets. The alliance aims to give businesses access to specialist local legal expertise while providing coordinated support when insurance disputes extend across borders.
Through its member firms, the GPA provides policyholders with access to legal expertise across 23 jurisdictions, covering four major global regions and other strategically important markets.
The alliance says its formation addresses a longstanding gap in the insurance market. Insurers have traditionally been able to rely on established international networks of panel law firms, while businesses seeking to pursue insurance claims have had less access to comparable specialist representation across multiple jurisdictions.
Aaron Le Marquer, Head of Policyholder Disputes at Stewart and founder of the GPA, said the increasingly international nature of insurance disputes made coordinated specialist advice more important.
“Insurance disputes are increasingly international in nature, but until now business policyholders have not had the same easy access to a global network of specialist lawyers as insurers,” Le Marquer said.
He said the alliance would enable businesses to access specialist legal expertise in their local jurisdiction while also obtaining coordinated cross-border support when a dispute spans multiple markets.
“Ultimately, this is about ensuring policyholders can access the highest quality legal representation wherever in the world a claim arises,” he said.
The GPA said its member firms collectively bring together more than 2,500 lawyers, combining specialist policyholder representation with the resources and litigation capabilities of established heavyweight law practices.