William T. Barker is a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal LLP with a nationwide practice in the area of complex commercial insurance litigation, including coverage, claim practices, sales practices, risk classification and selection, agent relationships, and regulatory matters. In addition to handling complex litigation, he provides opinions on insurance coverage and counsels clients with a view to structuring their affairs in a way that will avoid litigation or maximize the prospects of success if litigation results. He also counsels and litigates on matters of lawyers' professional responsibility.
Mr. Barker has written over 100 articles on insurance and litigation subjects and speaks frequently. He is a member of the Editorial Board for the New Appleman on Insurance Law, the New Appleman Insurance Law Practice Guide (for which he was also a Consulting Author), and the Lexis-Nexis Insurance Law Center. He is a Senior Contributing Editor and Editorial Board Director of Insurance Litigation Reporter and was Editor-in-Chief of Bad Faith Law Report prior to its merger into Insurance Litigation Report.
Mr. Barker was a member of the joint defense briefing team that won In re Katrina Canal Breaches, 495 F.3d 191 (5th Cir. 2007), and Chauvin v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 495 F.3d 232 (5th Cir. 2007), the major federal cases on insurance coverage for damage caused by the flooding of New Orleans. He has contributed to the joint defense effort in the parallel cases in the Louisiana Supreme Court, including Sher v. Lafayette Ins. Co., Nos. 07-C-2441, 07-C-2443 (flood exclusion bars coverage for Hurricane Katrina flooding)..
Mr. Barker serves as national coordinating counsel for members of the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies in various class actions dealing with such subjects as claims for diminshed value following auto repairs, determination of "actual cash value" on property insurance claims, and various issues relating to insurers' subrogation rights. He also represents other insurers in class actions.
Mr. Barker represents various insurers in defending bad faith claims, especially on appeal. For example, he was brought into Torres v. Travelers Ins. Co., Civ. 01-5056 (D.S.D.), after a verdict exceeding $12 million. He prepared post-trial motions that obtained a reduction to $2 million and briefed an appeal that ended in a confidential settlement. He is currently handling or has recently concluded appeals in other eight-figure bad faith cases. He is a noted speaker and commentator on bad faith and claim handling issues.
Mr. Barker is a noted expert advisor and litigator on the professional responsibilities of insurance defense counsel. He was one of the lawyers for Travelers Indemnity Co. in Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee v. Amer. Home Assur. Co., 2008 WL 821034 (Tex. Mar. 28, 2008) (upholding use of staff counsel to defend insureds). The International Association of Defense Counsel gave him a special award for his role in the debates on that subject that were part of the preparation of the Restatement (Third) of the Law Governing Lawyers. Mr. Barker is also a member of the Sonnenschein Ethics Committee and regularly consults, speaks, and provides representation on general professional responsibility issues. He is a member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers "APRL"), a member of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility Policy Implementation Committee, is APRL's liason to the ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism, is a past member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the ABA/BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct, and is or has been a member of the ethics committees of the Chicago Bar Association, the Chicago Council of Lawyers (past chair), the ABA Sections of Trial Tort & Insurance Practice and Litigation, and the International Association of Defense Counsel.
Mr. Barker has litigated a number of cases regarding the constitutional rights of insurers and others. E.g., Goldberg v. Sweet, 488 U.S. 252 (1989) (taxation of interstate telephone calls; court adopted one theory urged by amicus brief and concurrence adopted another); McDonald’s Corp. v. Nelson, 822 F. Supp. 597 (S.D. Iowa 1993), aff’d sub nom. Holiday Inns Franchising, Inc. v. Branstad, 29 F.3d 383 (8th Cir. 1994), cert. denied sub nom Iowa v. Holiday Inns Franchising, Inc., 513 U.S. 1032 (1994) (franchising statute unconstitutionally impaired obligation of franchise contracts); Allstate Ins. Co. v. Auto Damage Appraiser Licensing Bd., 507 N.E.2d 250 (Mass. 1987) (avoiding First Amendment question by narrow construction of statute).
Mr. Barker's practice includes a concentration in appellate litigation. He has handled scores of appeals and has prepared many amicus briefs in various state and federal appellate courts. He is a former chair of the Appellate Advocacy Committee of the ABA Tort, Trial & Insurance Practice Section.
Mr. Barker has served as an expert witness in bad faith and legal malpractice cases.
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: America’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.