Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

 

Page 3

 

O’Melveny Insurance Lawyer Defects to Manatt Phelps

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

Former O’Melveny & Myers insurance litigator Carlos E. Needham has joined Manatt, Phelps & Phillips as a partner in its Los Angeles office.

“I am very pleased to be here, very excited about it,” Needham told the MetNews yesterday.

Needham said his move was prompted by a shift in priorities at O’Melveny. “During the last six years I have developed a specialty in major claims insurance coverage, a practice area that O’Melveny is steering away from, and Manatt is interested in developing,” he said. “I’m hoping to be a big name, even bigger than I am now, in the insurance coverage area.”

Paul H. Irving, Manatt’s chief executive and managing partner, said in a release:

“We are very pleased to acquire a talented lawyer with Carlos’ capabilities, knowledge and reputation in the insurance industry. Carlos led O’Melveny’s efforts to build its West Coast Insurance and Mass Torts Practice Group, and his experience will strengthen our insurance practice . . . ”

Needham graduated from Harvard College in 1991 and Harvard Law School in 1994. After practicing in Texas for four years, he moved to Los Angeles, where he eventually joined O’Melveny.

He primarily represented large companies in the defense of insurance coverage, product liability and commercial contract suits, the release said. He represented the ACE Group of Insurance Companies, Zurich American Insurance Company and Highlands Insurance Company in major insurance coverage litigation in California and nationally.

Needham also served on O’Melveny’s employment, values awards and Harvard recruiting committees, and has been a frequent speaker on insurance law, the federal Class Action Fairness Act, and California’s unfair competition law.

Manatt was formed in 1965 and currently has 300 professionals in its offices in California, New York and Washington, D.C.

 

Copyright 2006, Metropolitan News Company