Bert Wells Email & Phone Number

Bert Wells, a highly regarded insurance coverage litigator and advisor, has successfully handled a wide array of matters in courts, arbitrations, mediations and negotiations, in some cases achieving 9-figure recoveries for his clients, including a $700 million Superstorm Sandy recovery. He is a partner in the New York office of Reed Smith.Bert has represented policyholders in pursuing insurance coverage for shareholder, fiduciary/retirement/benefits, errors and omissions, mass tort, environmental and other third-party liability claims. He has handled coverage claims under first-party and specialty line policies for catastrophic property damage and business interruption, including COVID-19 losses, as well as cyber, ransomware, IT system failure, rep-and-warranty, aviation, product recall, mortgage guarantee, trade credit, theft and other types of losses. He is also noted for effective deployment, defense and examination of financial and scientific expert witnesses in litigation.Bert advises on the purchase of custom insurance programs to protect directors and officers generally and in contemplation of specific transactions, including complex, multi-billion dollar matters. He has advised clients on many other high value transactional and contested insurance matters.Bert’s experience with many lines of coverage and the practical realities of achieving insurance recoveries and attainment of transactional goals informs all of his client service.Bert is a graduate of Yale Law School, as well as Oxford University–where he earned his mathematics doctorate–and Caltech. Before becoming a lawyer he worked as an assistant professor and research mathematician in university and commercial settings, including at Southern University, an HBCU.Among Bert’s notable publications are “What’s in a Word? The Hidden Pitfalls of Cyber Insurance Policy Language,” a featured article in Risk Management magazine; “Cyber-Risk Insurance,” in New Appleman on Insurance Law, Library Edition (Lexis-Nexis); and “Excess Insurance, Umbrella Insurance and Multi-Insurer Coverage Programs,” in Understanding Insurance Law (Practising Law Institute).For many years Bert has performed committee work for the New York City Bar Association, as a member and organizer of CLE programs for its Insurance Law Committee, and as Chair of its Information Technology Law Committee. He is a former trustee of the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI).

Listed skills include Litigation, Mediation, Insurance, Property And Casualty Insurance, and 4 others.