Chadbourne Insurance boosts team

New York firm Chadbourne & Parke is hiring a top in-house lawyer to boost its insurance and reinsurance practice.

Michael Skay, ex-senior vice-president and deputy general counsel at Bermuda company Partner Reinsurance Company, is joining as counsel at the firm's New York office after 17 years in-house.

Skay's arrival will help boost the firm after losing insurance and reinsurance litigation specialists Peter Chaffetz and Steven Schwartz to Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells (The Lawyer, 27 March).

At Partner Reinsurance, Skay managed legal issues surrounding major US acquisitions while supervising key departments, including legal compliance and claims and contract wording.

Partner Reinsurance took over Skay's former employer, Winterthur Reinsurance Corporation of America, in 1998.