Securing landmark judicial rulings, the New York-based Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna covers insurance matters for major corporations, hedge funds, and private equity firms. Practice head Robin Cohen has led high-stakes cases against some of the world’s largest insurers, recovering billions through precedent-setting litigation. Adam Ziffer has won key victories for corporate policyholders in cybercrime, D&O insurance, and insurability of risk. Kenneth Frenchman has litigated complex coverage disputes involving catastrophic and emerging losses. Keith McKenna has achieved precedent-setting rulings requiring insurers to fund D&O settlements, recently obtaining a rare reversal of a jury verdict, and expand defense cost coverage. Marc Ladd works across state and federal courts on matters related to property and casualty, D&O and E&O liability, environmental and asbestos claims, business interruption, and bad faith. Andrew Bourne works on a broad range of insurance contracts, including CGL, D&O, E&O, property, business interruption, professional liability, and fidelity bonds. Michelle Migdon handles substantial-loss cases, while Joshua Blosveren, who joined in January 2025, has strengthened the team’s success.
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Accolades
Client satisfaction: Lawyer & team quality
Client satisfaction: Billing & efficiency
Client satisfaction: Sector knowledge
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The firm's lawyers are highly knowledgeable, effective, and professional. In general, CZFM lawyers will try to reach an efficient resolution of a dispute but are known to be skilled trial attorneys capable of taking a case the full distance.'
‘The firm's lawyers are a pleasure to deal with even as adversaries – uniformly smart, responsive, creative, and no-nonsense. In particular, Adam Ziffer is effective without being heavy-handed and skilled in leading multi-party disputes to resolution.’
‘Tremendous attention to detail, responsiveness as well as thought leadership and subject matter knowledge.’
‘Robin Cohen is the top senior policyholder Lawyer in the United States. She gets the biggest cases and consistently turns in the best results. When large corporate policyholders think of the go to lawyer in this area they think of Robin.’
Key clients
- Madison Square Garden
- Conduent State Healthcare LLC
- Walmart Inc.
- Viacom Inc.
- Oracle America
- Genworth
- AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.
- JRSK, Inc. d/b/a Away
- Media Rights Capital (MRC)
- 180 Life Sciences Corp.
- Dellwood Insurance Group
- Becton, Dickinson and Company
- Revlon
- Daniel Fireman, Christopher Akelman, Octavio Boccalandro
- Harman International Industries Inc.
- Syngenta
- Cox
- StoneX
- The Vale Fox Distillery LLC
- Frontier Communications Holdings, LLC
Work highlights
Represented Conduent State Healthcare in obtaining a Delaware Supreme Court ruling that upheld the reversal of a pro-insurer jury verdict in a high-profile insurance coverage dispute with AIG Specialty Insurance Company.
Represented former directors of Viacom (now Paramount Global) in obtaining a Delaware Superior Court summary judgment ruling that eliminated a key barrier to D&O insurance coverage by holding that 2016 lawsuits were not interrelated with the Viacom shareholder class action arising from the 2019 Viacom-CBS merger and therefore did not bar coverage.
Represented Frontier Communications in obtaining a Delaware Superior Court ruling requiring insurers to defend against secondary copyright infringement claims, holding that notice obligations are governed by the policy’s language and rejecting insurers’ reliance on technical exclusions to avoid coverage.
Lawyers
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The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Practice head
Robin Cohen
Other key lawyers
Adam Ziffer; Kenneth Frenchman; Keith McKenna; Marc Ladd; Andrew Bourne; Michelle Migdon; Joshua Blosveren