Latosha delivers comprehensive end-to-end counsel to help clients with all of their insurance coverage needs from policy procurement and analysis to claims resolution and payment to, if necessary, alternative dispute resolution or litigation. Although valued for her expertise in cyber risk and media liability, Latosha regularly advises and represents clients on all major forms of insurance coverage including:

• Professional and management liabilities under directors and officers (D&O) and errors and omissions (E&O) liability insurance policies;
• Employment liabilities under employment practices liability insurance policies;
• Liability claims made against administrators, employees, and staff members of both schools and colleges under educators legal liability insurance policies;
• Commercial liabilities, including business interruption, under commercial general liability (CGL) insurance policies; and
• Captive insurance.

Latosha has counseled policyholders on a number of recent, widely publicized cyber incidents, recovering millions of dollars for clients. She has experience advising clients in the higher education, retail, legal, and financial sectors. She routinely collaborates with in-house counsel and risk managers on insurance issues, including structuring indemnity and insurance obligations, identifying gaps and overlap in critical insurance coverages, and performing due diligence reviews. Latosha has handled and tried cases in state and federal trial courts nationwide.

In addition to her legal practice, Latosha is an accomplished author and lecturer. She is a frequent contributor to the Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog and often speaks on topics related to insurance coverage and risk management at seminars across the country on emerging issues, including cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, insurance and indemnity clauses in third-party contracts, and insurance coverage denials. She is active in the American Bar Association and DC Bar Association’s CLE Planning Committee. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia, where she served as Treasurer, Treasurer-Elect, and Secretary for the organization during earlier terms. Latosha has an active pro bono practice, which includes passionately advocating for full democracy for disenfranchised residents of the District of Columbia and providing insurance advice and counsel to nonprofits and small businesses.

Relevant Experience

• Audits insurance programs – including providing tailored advice and solutions to protect assets and reputation from cyber risks across many sectors, including hospitality, legal, retail, energy, financial services, higher education institutions, and professional sport teams.
• Serves as insurance coverage counsel for numerous cyber-related insurance claims arising out of social engineering and fraudulent transfer schemes, data breaches, cyber extortion, ransomware, and vendor/supplier cyber incidents.
• Regularly advises clients on additional insured, indemnity, and required insurance provisions in vendor contracts and represents clients in negotiations with counterparties.
• Serves as insurance coverage counsel to several higher education institutions for claims arising from lawsuits alleging legal liability.
• Secured coverage for fidelity and on premises liability claims under financial institution bond policies for several banks.
• Analyzed coverage for COVID-19 losses, such as business interruption and event cancellation, for various industries, including global private equity firm portfolio companies, financial institutions, retailers, and nonprofit organizations.
• Represented cedent in state and federal court disputes with facultative reinsurers over coverage for payments for underlying asbestos lawsuits, and involving follow-the-fortunes and follow-the-settlements doctrines, allocation disputes, and reinsurance limits disputes.
• Represented the interests of a large utility provider in an action to recover millions of dollars related to environmental cleanup from more than two dozen excess liability insurance carriers, and involving issues related to the expected or intended loss doctrine, coverage trigger, and allocation.

Education
BA, University of Cincinnati, 2001

• Year in Review: Top Insurance Cases of 2020

  By Latosha Ellis |January 2021

• Year in Review: Top Insurance Cases of 2018

  By Latosha Ellis |January 2019

• Riot-Related Damage, Income Losses Covered Under Most Business Owners’ Policies, Daily Business Review
• Maximizing insurance coverage and managing risks for educational institutions, CEP Magazine
• Check Your Inventory; Do You Have Enough Cyber Insurance?, Retail Industry 2022 Year in Review
• Expert Analysis: Gov't Shutdown Can Trigger Event Cancellation Insurance, Law360
• Year in review: Top insurance cases of 2018, Thomson Reuters Westlaw
• 2020 Year in Review: Top Insurance Cases of 2020, American Bar Association
• Top Insurance Cases of 2020 - Part 1: Business Interruption, Insurance Coverage Law Center
• Top Insurance Cases of 2020: Part 2 - Other Noteworthy Cases, Insurance Coverage Law Center
• Supply Chain Disruption? Don’t Overlook Insurance, Retail Industry 2021 Year in Review
• Key Lessons From Peloton’s Tread+ Recall, Risk Management Magazine
• Lift as You Climb: Accepting the Call to Mentorship, TYL Digital Publication, American Bar Association
• When Good Isn't Good Enough: Interpreting Undefined “Best Efforts” Clauses in Virginia, VBA Journal
• The New Bermuda Triangle: Arbitration of Coverage Disputes Under the Bermuda Form, American College of Coverage Counsel Member News Article of the Month
• What are the Options? Litigating the Availability of Safety Features, The Brief, ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section Journal
• Solefully Designed: Insurance Coverage Tailored for the Sneaker Industry, Business Law Today
• Do the Right Thing: Do Virginia Lawyers Need a Rule for That? YLC Docket Call, Virginia State Bar
• To Incorporate or Not to Incorporate? That is the Captive Cell Question, Business Law Today
• On the Record: The Importance of Issue Preservation Throughout Litigation, Virginia Lawyer Magazine
• Outside Counsel Statements and the Party Exception to Hearsay, ABA Litigation - Pretrial Practice & Discovery
• “Insurance Law in the District of Columbia,” The District of Columbia Practice Manual 2020 Update
• Cybersecurity Insurance – Mitigating Compliance Risk Under the DFARS and Other Federal Regulations, Contract Management
• 2020 Retail Industry Year in Review
• 2023 Retail Industry Year in Review