Bingham

Bingham

William D. Goddard

Partner

Bill Goddard concentrates on insurance, reinsurance and insurance insolvency matters. Bill’s practice includes representing creditors, regulators and insurance companies in solving complex problems of financial distress; statutory interpretation; and contractual uncertainty. Bill is also experienced in insurance mergers and acquisitions as well as Native American gaming.

Representative matters include: representing ad hoc creditors committees in the FGIC and Ambac insolvencies; representing regulators in the ACA Financial Guaranty insolvency; representing Aetna in its acquisition of the Medicare supplement businesses of Genworth; advising the Connecticut Insurance Commissioner in the liquidation of the Connecticut Surety Company; and advising the Massachusetts Division of Insurance in the merger of MAPFRE S.A. and Commerce Group and in the merger of various John Hancock entities. Bill currently represents financial guarantor creditors in a very large Connecticut Native American gaming insolvency. Bill also participated in the representation of a U.S. insurance company in simultaneous U.S. federal and state proceedings and a Bermuda insolvency proceeding involving reinsurance collateral. Bill regularly assists creditors in interpreting professional liability policies in bankruptcy situations.

Prior to attending law school, Bill was an investment banker at JP Morgan & Co. and at Marsh & McLennan Securities Corporation, focusing on mergers and acquisitions within the insurance industry. He also provided financial advice to companies experiencing financial distress. His representative transactions included the conservation of a national workers’ compensation carrier, the sale of a specialty casualty insurance company in runoff, the restructuring of a specialty workers’ compensation carrier and the purchase of a minority interest in an Internet employee benefits platform.

Bill also co-founded, developed and sold a broadcasting company consisting of 19 radio stations located in New York and New England. He is the author of several law journal articles on insurance regulation and insolvency, including “In Between the Trenches: the Jurisdictional Conflict Between a Bankruptcy Court and a State Insurance Receivership Court,” which received a 2004 Burton Award for Legal Achievement, and “The Revolution of the Times: Recent Changes in U.K. Insurance Insolvency Laws and the Implications of those Changes Viewed from a U.S. Perspective.”

Prior to joining Bingham, Bill worked as both a summer associate and law clerk for the firm. He also served as law clerk to the Hon. Jon O. Newman, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Bill co-teaches Insurance Litigation each year at the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Events

  • What You Need to Know About the U.S. Financial Reform, Boston, Mass. and New York, N.Y. (2010)
  • Speaker, What Happens to a Financial Guarantor in Distress, Bear Stearns (2007)

Memberships

  • INSOL International
  • International Association of Insurance Receivers
  • American Bar Association
  • New York State Bar Association

Awards & Honors

  • William F. Starr Fellowship for the highest grade point average in his graduating class
  • American Bankruptcy Institute Medal of Excellence

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