Michael J. Pinsel

Partner, Sidley Austin LLP

MICHAEL J. PINSEL is a partner in the Insurance and Financial Services group in Sidley’s Chicago office and heads the firm’s property and casualty alternative risk transfer practice. His practice is concentrated primarily in the corporate and regulatory representation of insurance companies, investors and financial advisors with a focus on alternative risk transfer mechanisms, including insurance securitization and derivatives (catastrophe bonds, sidecars, industry loss warranties); acquisitions, divestitures and corporate reorganizations; the formation, capitalization and corporate financing of insurance companies and related ventures; the regulation of insurance holding company systems; and the regulation of insurance company investment practices, including the use of derivative instruments. His practice also involves the representation of investment banks, hedge funds, private equity funds, investment advisors,derivative dealers and other sectors of the financial services industry, with respect to their insurance industry relationships and transactions.

From February 1999 until March 2001, Mr. Pinsel served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of a property/casualty insurance organization operating in both the excess and surplus lines commercial market and the personal lines market. Mr. Pinsel previously had been a partner in the insurance practice of another law firm.

Mr. Pinsel has been recognized by clients and fellow lawyers as a “Leading Lawyer” in the field of insurance (transactional & regulatory) by Chambers USA-America’s Leading Business Lawyers (2008 – 2011) in Illinois. He is a frequent speaker on insurance topics, including alternative risk transfer, and is the co-author of “Legal and Regulatory Issues Affecting Insurance Derivatives and Securitization,” a chapter in the textbook Securitized Insurance Risk: Strategic Opportunities for Insurers and Investors (1998). He also is co-author of “Capital Relief Opportunities in the Insurance Industry” published in Insurance Finance & Investment (March 15, 2009), “Collateral make-over” published in Trading Risk Annual Review 2009 (January 2010), “‘Show Me The Money’: When Financial Trouble Strikes Parties to a Reinsurance Trust Agreement” published in IRU Journal of Reinsurance (Winter 2010) and the author of “A Stormy Year for Property/Casualty Insurance-Linked Securities” published in The Reactions Magazine Guide To Insurance Markets 2009 (February 2009).

Mr. Pinsel graduated cum laude from Duke University in 1988 with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics, Psychology and Religion. Mr. Pinsel received his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1991 and was admitted to the Illinois bar in the same year.

MEMBERSHIPS & AFFILIATIONS
• Chicago Bar Association
• American Bar Association