Philip A. O'Connell, Jr.

Philip A. O'Connell, Jr. is the Office Managing Partner of Dentons' Boston office, specializing in Dispute Resolution. He focuses on litigation involving insolvent insurers, reinsurance, and coverage for environmental and mass tort liabilities, as well as general commercial litigation and government contracts litigation, and has tried numerous complex cases and served as appellate counsel in state and federal courts of appeal.

Philip has represented some of the world's largest insurers, reinsurers, and reinsurance pools in complex coverage, bankruptcy, and insolvency proceedings. Notable matters include serving as lead trial counsel in plan confirmation trials for asbestos‑related bankruptcy proceedings, including In re Plant Insulation Company (with US$2 billion in alleged liabilities) and In re Western Asbestos Company (with US$5.8 billion in alleged liabilities); lead trial counsel in a six‑week Phase I "missing policy" trial in San Francisco Superior Court; representing 18 insurers in a US$250 million preference action brought by the liquidator of Superior National Insurance Companies; and representing a reinsurance pool in the collection of a large receivable. He has also represented clients in investigations by the Office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts and has handled litigation concerning private equity investments and expropriation of assets in Uzbekistan.

He holds a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School (1983) and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Wesleyan University (1979), where he was Phi Beta Kappa. He is admitted to practice in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Seventh, Ninth, and Federal Circuits, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Tax Court, and multiple U.S. District Courts.