In this increasingly growing digital landscape, companies are entrusted with vast amounts of sensitive personal information. From names and email addresses to browsing habits and location data, companies routinely collect users’ personal data all to enhance convenience and functionality, advertise products, personalize experiences for consumers, and improve services. Plaintiffs’ law firms, however, have been looking to monetize alleged privacy risks associated with this data collection, spurring waves of putative class action lawsuits that are not only costly but can also severely damage a company’s reputation. This unfolding legal landscape accentuates the need for robust insurance coverage, and in particular, insurance that will respond to privacy-related claims.

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Photo of Gretchen Hoff Varner Gretchen Hoff Varner

Gretchen Hoff Varner represents a wide range of companies in high-stakes coverage litigation and arbitration and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars from insurers. She is a noted trial lawyer who has successfully arbitrated or tried multiple insurance cases. Chambers USA ranks…

Gretchen Hoff Varner represents a wide range of companies in high-stakes coverage litigation and arbitration and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars from insurers. She is a noted trial lawyer who has successfully arbitrated or tried multiple insurance cases. Chambers USA ranks Gretchen as one of the leading insurance policyholder attorneys in California, and says that she is “an incredibly thoughtful and strategic adviser, a good counsellor, and is incredibly knowledgeable. She is also an excellent writer and communicator.” She was one of the Daily Journal’s 2017 Top 40 Under 40 Lawyers in California and Business Insurance named her as one of its Women to Watch for 2022. She recently secured a trial victory in New York State Supreme Court on behalf of her client Brooklyn Union Gas Company. She is the Managing Partner for the San Francisco office of Covington.

Gretchen’s trial work also reflects her commitment to public service; she led the Covington trial teams that overturned New York City’s racially discriminatory stop-and-frisk policy after a three-month trial in the Southern District of New York, and challenged unconstitutional conditions for mentally ill prisoners in a Mississippi private prison.

Gretchen represents policyholders with all types of insurance policies, and focuses on:

General liability insurance
D&O and E&O insurance, particularly related to securities claims
Cyber insurance, data breaches, and privacy-related losses
Property and business interruption insurance for catastrophic losses, including fires, hurricanes, and Covid-19
Trademark infringement and intellectual property losses
Environmental contamination and other long-tail liabilities, including product liability
Event cancellation
Bad faith, fraud, and violations of insurance regulations

Outside the courtroom, Gretchen is a trusted advisor to corporate decision-makers and has resolved multiple high-dollar matters without the need for litigation. She is often praised for her ability to translate complex insurance concepts into practical guidance.

She is a member of the American Law Institute, the past Chair of the Insurance Section of the San Francisco Bar Association, and a frequent speaker to industry groups and at conferences. A champion of women in leadership, she also serves on the board of the Girl Scout Council of Northern California.

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Photo of Darren Teshima Darren Teshima

Darren Teshima helps corporate policyholders resolve their most complex insurance coverage disputes by providing both creative business solutions and strategic representation in litigation. Chambers USA has clients praising Darren as “incredibly efficient, responsive and practical” adding, “For any insurance coverage questions, he is…

Darren Teshima helps corporate policyholders resolve their most complex insurance coverage disputes by providing both creative business solutions and strategic representation in litigation. Chambers USA has clients praising Darren as “incredibly efficient, responsive and practical” adding, “For any insurance coverage questions, he is my first call.” In addition to Chambers, Darren has been recognized by Lawdragon, Benchmark Litigation, Best Lawyers, Legal 500, and is a fellow of the American College of Coverage Counsel.

He serves as a true partner to technology and financial services clients, working closely with in-house risk management and legal departments to guide them through their cutting-edge issues, including complex first-party and third-party claims under directors and officers (D&O), errors and omissions (E&O), cyber, and representations and warranties (R&W) insurance policies.

Darren has successfully litigated high stakes insurance coverage and other commercial disputes, and has a proven track record of obtaining favorable results for clients at trial. His successes include leading a trial team asserting a professional negligence claim against an insurance claims administrator, where the case settled eight days into a jury trial after the client rested its case. Darren has received “shout out” recognitions by AmLaw Litigation Daily for his representation of BBAM and for his representation of Getaround.

Darren also serves as a General Counsel of the firm and is deeply committed to pro bono work and community involvement. Darren’s recent pro bono work includes civil rights litigation on behalf of immigrant and other vulnerable communities. He currently serves on the board of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF) and on the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE) of the State Bar of California. He previously served five years as the Chair of the Board of the Asian Law Caucus and served on the boards of Legal Services for Children and the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area (AABA).

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Photo of Hakeem Rizk Hakeem Rizk

Hakeem Rizk represents corporate policyholders in complex coverage disputes with their insurers and advises clients on insurance program placement and complex risk transfer and indemnification issues, including representation and warranty (warranty and indemnity) insurance for clients in a wide range of industries, spanning…

Hakeem Rizk represents corporate policyholders in complex coverage disputes with their insurers and advises clients on insurance program placement and complex risk transfer and indemnification issues, including representation and warranty (warranty and indemnity) insurance for clients in a wide range of industries, spanning from biomedical to professional sports.

Hakeem also represents clients in complex class actions involving a variety of issues such as consumer protection and breach of contract and warranty.

He maintains an active pro bono practice involving issues including insurance recovery, criminal matters, and violations of human rights.

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