Latosha M. Ellis

Latosha helps policyholders maximize insurance recoveries with sound advice and effective solutions.

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.