Lawyers affiliated with the Litigation Counsel of America (LCA) have announced their formation of the Insurance Litigation Institute of America (ILIA), an organization to unite lawyers for insurers and policyholders. ILIA’s founder is Kevin Merriman, a partner with Ward Greenberg Heller & Reidy LLP. He is joined by Stacy A. Broman, a partner with Meagher & Geer PLLP in Minneapolis, Diane Polscer, managing partner of Gordon & Polscer LLC in Portland, Ore., and Julia A. Molander, a partner with Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick & Pearson LLP in San Francisco.

According to Kevin Merriman, ILIA’s goal is to bring together policyholder counsel and insurer’s counsel for collaboration, CLE programming and publications. There are few organizations that bring both sides together, and the new organization presents opportunity for sharing ideas and exploring issues. ILIA will be a resource for insurance litigation-related information and referrals, as well as a means of promoting collegiality and cooperation amongst ILIA  members.

ILIA plans to have its inaugural meeting at the LCA spring conference in May 2013 in California, and plan to present the first ILIA programming at the association’s subsequent fall meeting.

Stacy Broman is a leader and veteran in the insurance practice.  She focuses her work on complex commercial litigation defending insurers in insurance coverage and bad faith litigation, and she represents professionals in professional liability litigation. She is a member of Meagher & Geer’s Management Committee.  For her work on behalf of the insurance industry, Stacy has been named to the Super Lawyers® list.  She is listed in The Best Service Professionals in the United States and in The Best Lawyers in America, which also listed her as an Insurance Lawyer of the Year for 2013.

Established in Minneapolis in 1929, Meagher & Geer has earned a reputation as one of the leading litigation defense firms in the Upper Midwest.  We serve clients nationwide from our offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Phoenix, Arizona. We offer a wide range of legal services to our clients. Our lawyers represent businesses of all sizes, public entities, non-profit organizations, and individuals in the areas of civil and commercial litigation defense with special emphasis in the areas of insurance coverage, products liability, complex mass tort/toxic tort, professional liability, health care, employment practices, construction, catastrophic loss, securities and financial services, and appellate law.  We also provide representation in matters involving corporate law, corporate transactions, wills, estates and trusts, and real estate. Our attorneys are licensed in many states, including Arizona, California, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.