Michael M. Marick, Class of 1982

National leader in insurance coverage litigation

A partner in the law firm Hinshaw and Culbertson, LLP, Michael Marick has spent more than thirty years representing insurers across the country in disputes with their policyholders over insurance coverage, at the claims stage, in trial courts and on appeal. He has successful represented insurers on a broad range of coverage issues arising under all types of primary and excess, general, professional and liability policies, as well as treaty and facultative reinsurance contracts, including related claims handling and bad faith lawsuits. He has served as national coverage counsel to several major property and casualty insurers in their mass tort and environmental coverage cases and he has been lead counsel for insurers in particularly significant mass tort coverage litigation. He speaks and writes regularly about a variety of insurance issues and sits on the Executive and Management Committee of Meckler Bulger.

Marick was a Founding Fellow of the American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel in 2012 and has been recognized as one of the world’s leading insurance and reinsurance lawyers by Euromoney Legal Media Group. He received the Distinguished Service Award from Chicago-Kent in 1996 and the Professional Achievement Award in 2008. Marick also taught at Chicago-Kent as an Adjunct Professor of Insurance Law from 1987 to 1998, served as President of the Chicago-Kent Alumni Association in 1994-1995 and currently sits on the law school’s Board of Overseers.

What was your favorite part of law school?

The practitioners and the adjuncts who taught here. I found that they were doing the things I wanted to do and they were challenging. It was a nice connection to the community I wanted to practice in.

What has been your greatest challenge?

My greatest challenge was establishing in 1994, roughly 12 years out of law school, a firm that corporate clients would choose over more established firms. It was a daunting challenge and we didn’t know if we were going to make it. Ultimately, we did.

How do you think Chicago-Kent prepared you for your present success?

Chicago-Kent provides a good balance between the theoretical and the practical. The thing that was most valuable to me, other than the legal training, was the internships and externships I was able to take advantage of while I was in law school. Through this I got to work with several federal judges that really made me draw the link between the theoretical law school experience and what was going on in the city of Chicago.

What does your future hold?

The next case and the next challenge. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I love my clients and I love the practice. I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing, hopefully a little bit better each year than the year before.