Northern California legal powerhouse Farella Braun + Martel announces that Partner Erica Villanueva has been inducted as a fellow into the American College of Coverage Counsel (ACCC), the preeminent association representing the interests of insurers and policyholders in disputes arising out of insurance policies. Erica is the sixth Farella attorney invited into the ACCC.

Erica advises policyholders seeking to maximize recovery under their insurance policies and litigates insurance coverage disputes. She helps her clients navigate the insurance claims process, pursues breach of contract and bad faith claims against insurers, and advises on policy wording and coverage renewals. Erica’s practice focuses in particular on disputes under directors’ and officers’ liability, venture capital liability, employment practices liability, and commercial general liability insurance policies. In 2021, Erica completed a three-year term as a board member of the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF), having previously served on BASF’s Judiciary Committee and as chair of BASF’s Insurance Law Section. For her work as an insurance coverage practitioner, Erica is recognized in Chambers USA (2019-2021) and was named to Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under Hotlist (2017-2018). She earned her J.D. from Yale Law School (2004) and her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley (2000).

Comprised of senior lawyers with at least 15 years of experience handling insurance disputes, the American College of Coverage Counsel is an invitation-only organization dedicated to educating all insurance law professionals on cutting-edge, emerging, and critical issues, such as developing trends in insurance law and bad faith, trial practice and alternative dispute resolution, policy formation, and claims handling. The College is focused on the creative, ethical, and efficient adjudication of insurance coverage and extracontractual disputes, peer-provided scholarship, law student outreach, and the improvement of the relationship between and among its diverse members.

Farella Braun + Martel is a leading Northern California law firm representing corporate and private clients in sophisticated business transactions and complex commercial, civil and criminal litigation. Clients seek our imaginative legal solutions and the dynamism and intellectual creativity of our lawyers. We are headquartered in San Francisco and maintain an office in the Napa Valley that is focused on the wine industry.

Contact:
Cheryl Loof
Farella Braun + Martel LLP
415.954.4433 / [email protected]