PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Jim Black has over 40 years of legal experience in the fidelity, surety and related fields of law. Jim's practice is primarily focused in the areas of complex commercial litigation, including fidelity, surety, directors' and officers' liability, financial fraud and construction matters. He received his B.A. in political science from the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences of the University of Cincinnati in 1964 and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1967.

Jim is a past Chair of the Fidelity & Surety Law Committee of the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section and currently serves as Co-Chair of its Past Chairs Advisory Council and its Membership Division. Further, he served on the Council of the Tort and Insurance Practice Section and numerous committees of the Section including the Long Range Planning Committee, Diversity Committee, Ethics and Professionalism Committee, Guidebook and Bylaws Committee – Co-Chair, and the Scope & Correlation Committee of which he was Chair. Jim has served as Vice-Chair of the Workers Compensation and Employers Liability Committee and has Chaired the TIPS Task Force on Workers Compensation Reform and the Workers Compensation Task Force on the Second Injury Fund.

Jim served as an adviser for Restatement of the Law Third of Suretyship and Guaranty which is published by the American Law Institute.

He is also a member of the American Bar Association's Public Contract Section and The Forum on the Construction Industry. He is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel, The Defense Research Institute, the Fidelity Law Association, the National Bond Claims Association and the Surety Claims Institute.

Jim served in the United States Army as a Captain in its Military Intelligence Branch and his service included a tour of duty in the Republic of Vietnam where he was awarded the Bronze Star for his service.

Following his tour of duty in the armed services, Jim joined a leading national fidelity, surety and insurance company where he practiced for over thirty-seven years in positions ranging from Assistant Claims Attorney to Vice President and Head of Claims operations.

During this service, Jim handled, negotiated, supervised and oversaw complex claims and litigation involving hundreds of millions of dollars. In addition to fidelity, surety, directors' and officers' liability, and construction claims, he has extensive experience in a wide spectrum of insurance coverage matters ranging from auto, workers compensation, property, casualty and excess insurance coverage and reinsurance.

MEMBERSHIPS AND CERTIFICATIONS

Admitted to practice in all state courts in Ohio, Florida and Georgia.

Recipient of Martin J. Andrew Award for Lifetime Achievement in Fidelity & Surety Law, presented at the Mid-Winter meeting of the American Bar Association, TIPS Fidelity & Surety Committee, San Francisco, California, January 2004.

The American Bar Association

• Business Law Section
• Public Contract Section, Bonds & Sureties Steering Committee
• Forum Committee on the Construction Committee, Division 7 Steering Committee
• Law Practice Management section
• Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section
  1. Member of Council
  2. Long Range Planning Committee
  3. Scope & Correlation Committee, Committee Chair, Chair-elect, Secretary
  4. Diversity In The Profession Committee
  5. Bylaws & Guidebook Committee, Co-Chair
  6. Ethics & Professionalism Committee
  7. TIPS Task Force on Workers' Compensation Reform, Chair
  8. TIPS Workers' Compensation Task Force – Second Injury Fund, Chair
• TIPS Advisory Committee to the Drafting Committee for the Restatement 3rd, The Law of Suretyship & Guaranty
• Fidelity & Surety Law Committee
  1. Committee Chair
  2. Chair-Elect
  3. Senior Vice Chair
  4. Vice Chair
  5. Membership Division Co-Chair
  6. Past Chairs Advisory Committee, Co-Chair
  7. Long Range Planning Committee
  8. Annual Meeting Program Chair
  9. Annual Meeting Fidelity Program Chair
  10. Executive Committee
  11. Liaison to Forum Committee on the Construction Industry
  12. Lobbying Sub-Committee, Chair
  13. Legislative and Regulation Committee
  14. Diversity Committee, Co-Chair
• Professionals', Officers' & Directors' Liability Committee
• Property Law Committee
• Workers' Compensation and Employers' Liability Law Committee - Vice Chair

Surety Claims Institute

Gulfcoast Fidelity and Surety Institute

American Law Institute – Restatement 3rd, The Law of Suretyship & Guaranty Board of Advisors

Claims Advisory Committee – Surety Association of America, Chair

Claims Advisory Committee – Excess Bond Reassurance Association

Defense Research Institute

• Fidelity & Surety Committee

Fidelity Law Association

International Association of Defense counsel

• Fidelity & Surety Committee
• Surety Trial Practice Program Sub-Committee
• Insurance Executive Committee
• Professional Errors & Omissions Committee

National Bond Claims Association

• Member

Surety Claims Institute

• Member

SPEECHES AND PUBLICATIONS

Induction speaker on behalf of Admittees to Florida Bar, November 10, 1972.

Fidelity Program, Midyear Meeting of Tort Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association; Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, New York, New York, 1978 Bankruptcy Act & Fidelity and Non-Contract Surety, January 1983.

1983 - First Supplement Annotated Bankers Blanket Bond Section II Exclusions;

1986 - Midyear Meeting of International Association of Defense Counsel - Fidelity & Surety Program, Hamilton, Bermuda, The 1986 Financial Institution of Bond;

1986 - American Bar Association Annual Meeting - TIPS Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, Fidelity Program Chair;

1987 - Midyear Meeting of TIPS Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, New York, New York, Surety Bond Default Program Tender of Contractor to the Owner - Speaker and Panelist;

1987 - Joint Meeting of Surety Association of America - American Subcontractors Association and National Association of Surety Bond Producers, Washington, DC Claim Handling Procedures;

1987 - Southeastern Regional Meeting - National Association of Credit Managers, Charleston, South Carolina Handling Payment Bond Claims;

1987 - American Bar Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California - TIPS Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, Fidelity Program Co-Chair;

1987 - Westfield Bond Claims Seminar, Westfield Center, Ohio Confidentiality Agreements - A Gag But Not A Joke;

1987 - Annual Meeting of National Association of Surety Bond Producers, San Francisco, California, Surety Program Panelist;

1987 - Surety Association of America, Basic Two-Day Contract Bond Seminar, Atlanta, Georgia, Faculty;

1988 - Mid-Winter Meeting, International Association of Defense Counsel, Fidelity & Surety Committee, New York, New York, Surety Trial Practice Program, The Company Perspective;

1988 - Second Supplement, Annotated Financial Institution Bond Section II - Exclusions;

TIPS Fidelity & Surety Committee, National Institute of Financial Institution and Other Blanket Bonds, Fidelity Coverage - Who Is Covered?; April 1988, Washington, DC; November 1988, San Francisco, California;

Mid-Winter Meeting, International Association of Defense Counsel, Fidelity & Surety Committee, New York, New York, Surety Trial Practice Program The Company Perspective, January 1989;

1990 – Eagle Lodge Bond Claim Seminar, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Fidelity Bonds - Successive and Co-Sureties;

1991 - National Association of Surety Bond Producers, Advanced Contract Seminar, San Diego, California Evolution of a Contractor Default;

1992 - American Bar Association, National Institute on Financial Institution Bonds, London, England Financial Institution Bonds; Investigating the Regulators Claim;

1992 - Maryland Association of CPAs Continuing Education Seminar, May 4, 1992, Baltimore, Maryland, Surety Retrospective of a Defaulted Contractor;

1992 - Surety Claims Institute 17th Annual Meeting and Seminar, Absecon, New Jersey Primary/Reinsure Relationships, Mock Mediation, Mediator;

1992 - Financial Institute, Shaping the Future of Public Construction Presented by the Section of Contract Law, the Section of Tort & Insurance Practice and the Division for Professional Education, October 29-30, The Ritz Carlton (Pentagon City), Arlington, Virginia Statutory Mandated Bonds and the Roles of Participants;

1992 - First Round Table for Sureties, Contractors, Bankers, Brokers and Owners, December 8, Vienna, Virginia - Presenter;

1993 - Miscellaneous Bond and the Restatement, William & Mary Law Review, July Issue;

1993 - Section VII Assignment, Subrogation, Recovery, Cooperation, Third Supplement Annotated Financial Institution Bond;

Moderator Law of Suretyship, ABA TIPS Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Program, October 28, 1993, Woodland Hills, California;

When the Feds Come Marching In, Mediator - C. Al Sydes, Fidelity Program Mid-Winter Meeting Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, Waldorf-Astoria, January 28, 1994;

1994 Panelist Contract Bond Claims, March Meeting of Suncoast Utility Contractors Association, Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, Tampa, Florida;

Commercial Crime Policy Revisited - The Jabberwock Strikes Back!, Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, Fidelity Program ABA Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, August 7, 1995;

Miscellaneous Bonds and The Restatement, Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, Surety Program, American Bar Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, August 9, 1994;

Special Contributing Editor, The Construction Lawyer, Volume 15, Number 1, January 1995, Publication of the Forum on the Construction Industry;

1995 - Program - Moderator Annual Meeting - Surety Claims Institute, June 22-23, Williamsburg, Virginia;

Managing the Insurers Response - Financial Institution Bonds, Fidelity & Surety Law Committee of the American Bar Association, Tort & Insurance Practice Section, Waldorf-Astoria, New York, New York, November 2-3, 1995;

Releases, Extensions and Modification Rules, The Implications of the New Restatement of the Law Third ,Suretyship & Guaranty on the Surety Bonds and Indemnity Agreements, Fidelity & Surety Law Committee of the Tort & Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association, O'Hare Westin, Chicago, Illinois, April 18, 1996;

Releases, Extensions and Modification Rules, The Implications of the New Restatement of the Law Third , Suretyship & Guaranty on the Surety Bonds and Indemnity Agreements, Fidelity & Surety Claim Department Seminar, Tides Hotel, Easton, Maryland, September 1996;

Managing the Insurers' Response, Financial Institution Bonds of the Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, American Bar Association, Tort & Insurance Practice Section, Four Seasons Hotel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 24-25, 1998;

Program Co-Chair, Preventing and Recovering Losses: Litigation and Financing Strategies for the Contract Surety, ABA TIPS Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Spring Meeting, May 8-9, 2003, Chicago, Illinois.

The Restatement of Suretyship and Guaranty: A Translation for the Practitioner, ABA Publishing, 2005. Co-Author Chapter IV, Suretyship Defenses; and Co-Author Chapter VI, Finding The Duties Of The Obligee In The Restatement

Presenter of the Martin J. Andrew Award to Paul Devin, ABA TIPS Fidelity & Surety Committee Mid-Winter Meeting, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York, New York, January 2005.

Southern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference, Fidelity Workshop, Facilitator, Don CeSar Hotel, St. Pete Beach, Florida, May 5, 2006

Preparing the Witness for Deposition and Trial, Mid-Winter Meeting, Fidelity & Surety Law Committee of the Tort Trial Insurance Practice Section, American Bar Association, St. Francis Westin Hotel, San Francisco, California, January 26, 2007, Panelist.

Presenter of the Martin J. Andrew Award to Robert D. Carnaghan, Mid-Winter meeting of the Fidelity & surety Law committee, St. Francis Westin Hotel, San Francisco, California, January 26, 2007. (return)

"Libel, Slander and Other Retaliatory Litigation", Gulfcoast Fidelity and Surety Institute, May 31, 2008, Boca Grande Club, Boca Grande, Florida.

"Another Danger Lurking in the Swamp", Gulfcoast Fidelity & Surety Institute, May 31, 2008, Boca Grande Club, Boca Grande, Florida.

"Libel Slander and Other Retaliatory Litigation in the Context of Fidelity Claims", Monthly Field Claims conference, August 13, 2008 Travelers Bond & Financial Products Claim.

Chapter 8, "The Loan Loss Exclusion: Assuring That Credit and Business Risks Remain with the Financial Institution", Financial Institution Bonds, Duncan L. Clore [editor], - 3rd ed., 2008 American Bar Association.

Chapter 16, "Managing The Insurer’s Response to The Claim", Financial Institution Bonds, Duncan L. Clore [editor], - 3rd ed.,2008 American Bar Association.

75 Years of the Fidelity & Surety Law Committee, [co-editor], FSLC Spring Meeting, Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, American Bar Association, LaJolla, CA., May 22, 2009,