Michael J. Fichtel, Chief Executive Officer of Kelley Kronenberg. Courtesy Photo
Fort Lauderdale firm Kelley Kronenberg has opened an office in New Orleans, drawn by the increasing demand in insurance property litigation after a string of severe storms in the region.
The 175-attorney firm hired career insurance defense lawyer Sean P. Sullivan, a partner who will lead the firm's New Orleans office.
The hiring and geographic expansion were driven by the firm's expansion in the insurance sector, especially first-party property insurance and claims related to recent hurricane damage across the region, principal partner and CEO Michael Fichtel said in an email.
Louisiana saw the brunt of a historic Atlantic hurricane season that included 31 tropical storms and six major hurricanes, three of which hit the Pelican State. The analysis firm CoreLogic estimates that hurricanes Zeta, Delta, and Laura cost the state $12 billion in residential and commercial property damage.
The carnage indicates a busy 2021. "After the last year, I foresee first-party property litigation to become very active, from Western Louisiana all the way across the Panhandle," Sullivan said in an email.
The firm decided to open a New Orleans office after its Florida client base asked whether Kelley Kronenberg could represent them in other parts of the country, Fichtel said. "[We expanded to New Orleans] due to the increase of clients' needs in coastal areas such as Louisiana following the significant storm seasons that the last several years have produced," Fichtel said.
Fichtel said that beyond recent storms, the firm's business development efforts and successes in the region also influenced the decision to expand to Louisiana. "We continue to see growth in the insurance defense practice areas of third party, construction defect, and employment practices liability insurance coverage," he said.
The New Orleans location — the firm's 12th office — serves as an efficient access point for claims across the region, Sullivan said. "While flood losses are always a concern in New Orleans, general first-party property damage claims are made throughout the state, all of which is very accessible from New Orleans," he said. "[The expansion] provides clients with representation and reach into all of Louisiana and the surrounding states."
The new office continues a period of expansion for Kelley Kronenberg, which hired three insurance defense partners this spring to join offices in Jacksonville and Tampa, brought in a new CIO and bifurcated its CIO role in October, launched a personal injury protection group in May, and added 39 lawyers in 2019.
"The firm overall has seen a growth in revenues over the past year of 27%," Fichtel said. "A significant portion of that firm-wide growth has been a direct result of our first-party insurance practice."
Before joining Kelley Kronenberg, Sullivan was a first-chair litigator at the Metairie, Louisiana insurance defense boutique Nielsen & Treas, where he had practiced since 2013.
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Dan Roe
I'm a reporter covering the business of law, focusing on Florida-based and national law firms for the Daily Business Review, The American Lawyer, Law.com and other ALM publications. Reach me at: [email protected] or on Twitter at @dan_roe_.