Kennedys expands West Coast presence and Los Angeles insurance coverage practice with senior lateral hires

Kennedys has strengthened its insurance coverage capabilities with the addition of Alan Barbanel, who joins the firm’s Los Angeles office alongside Special Counsel Mark Seplak and Henry Truszkowski.

Alan brings more than 40 years of experience advising domestic and international insurers and reinsurers on complex insurance coverage and bad faith matters. A founding partner of Barbanel & Treuer, P.C., he has built an internationally recognized practice handling high-stakes third-party coverage disputes across a broad range of financial lines insurance, including professional liability, employment practices liability, directors’ and officers’ liability. He also has the same high-level of coverage experience with commercial general liability policies, specialty and surplus lines policies such as excess indemnity, contingent liability, product recall, and high-risk special event policies.

Additionally, Alan has more than 15 years of experience acting as a claims administrator for professional liability programs within the Lloyd’s of London Market, regularly serves as a lecturer and as an expert witness on insurance claims handling matters.

Reflecting on his move to Kennedys, Alan said: “I’m extremely excited to join Kennedys at a pivotal time in its North American growth. The firm’s culture and market-leading platform make it the ideal place to bring my experience, as well as that of Mark and Henry, and continue building a practice focused on complex insurance coverage and claims.”

Eric Hiller, U.S. Managing Partner, said: “Alan’s depth of knowledge and experience in insurance coverage, bad faith and claims management further enhances our West Coast capabilities and supports our continued investment in the United States market. His arrival further demonstrates our focus on building market-leading teams that support the evolving needs of insurer and reinsurer clients.”

These arrivals follow a series of sustained investment in talent and infrastructure as Kennedys continues to accelerate its growth in the U.S. Recent expansion includes new attorneys to strengthen corporate and commercial capabilities, the addition of an eight-lawyer group in Seattle and more than 40 attorneys joining nationwide in the first half of 2025, including four lateral partners. The firm also enhanced its East Coast presence by relocating its New York and New Jersey offices to state-of-the-art spaces. These developments follow FY 2024/2025 results reporting a 22% year-over-year revenue increase in North America.