Expansion grows insurance coverage and professional lines practice in geography and capability

COLUMBIA, SC – Law firm McAngus Goudelock & Courie (MGC) has opened offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Garden City, New York, with the capability to also serve clients in Connecticut and New Jersey. This expansion marks the firm’s growth into eight states with 18 total offices and nearly 250 attorneys. Insurance coverage and litigation attorneys Eric Fitzgerald, Hillary Ladov and Liz McBride join the firm’s new Philadelphia office. Special counsel Daniel Levin joins the firm’s new Garden City office with an emphasis on insurance coverage and litigation. All four attorneys are admitted to practice in multiple states.

“With our expansion into Pennsylvania and New York, as well as growth in our insurance coverage and professional lines practice, MGC has the ability to serve our clients in greater capacities than ever before,” says MGC Managing Member Jay Courie. “We are excited to welcome our talented and experienced team of attorneys who are admitted in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. In an ever-changing industry, MGC will continue to keep innovation, efficiency and top-notch client service at the forefront of our practice.”

From left: Eric Fitzgerald, Liz McBride, Daniel Levin and Hillary Ladov

Eric Fitzgerald has extensive experience in a variety of insurance coverage and professional liability matters for insurance companies in state and federal courts throughout Pennsylvania and New York. His practice includes professional, casualty, property and special lines including errors and omissions; cyber; directors and officers; employment; law enforcement liability; commercial property; boiler and machinery; inland marine; builder’s risk; owner-controlled insurance programs (OCIPs); commercial auto and workers’ compensation. Eric also has experience serving as both a mediator and arbitrator in insurance coverage disputes.

Eric is one of a select number of attorneys in private practice who has received his designation as a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Associate in Reinsurance (ARe). He has served in the CPCU Society on the Executive Committee of the Society’s National Board of Governors, the Nominating Committee and its Champions Committee and is a former CPCU instructor. In addition, he participated in drafting several textbooks in association with the American Institute for CPCU.

Eric is a Certified Litigation Management Professional with the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM) and an instructor in the CLM’s Claims College. He is a member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS), the Property Legal Research Bureau (PLRB) and the American College of Coverage Counsel (ACCC). Eric has been recognized for his achievements in the legal industry, and holds an – AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rating™ by Martindale-Hubbell®.

Hillary Ladov has represented insurance industry clients in a variety of coverage matters for nearly a decade. Her practice includes insurance coverage counseling and litigation in connection with commercial liability lines, personal lines, and professional lines as well as bad faith. Hillary has extensive experience handling complex insurance cases in state and federal courts throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In 2019, Hillary participated in a three-month secondment at an international insurance company where she served as a claims specialist for the environmental coverage group. In this role, she performed intake, coverage evaluations and investigations, as well as adjustments.

Hillary serves on the board of directors of the Lawyers’ Club of Philadelphia and Justice at Work, and is the former chair of the Philadelphia Bar Associations’ Young Lawyers Division. In 2017, she received the Joseph H. Foster Young Lawyer Award by the Philadelphia Association of Defense Counsel for her exemplary professionalism, ethical practice and dedication as defense counsel. Hillary has also been recognized for her pro bono efforts by the Philadelphia Bar Association and Rutgers University School of Law, and has been named a Rising Star in Pennsylvania Super Lawyers since 2019.

Daniel Levin has defended clients in insurance coverage matters, and has counseled major property-casualty insurers on coverage and claims-handling issues as both in-house and outside counsel, for two decades in New York and Connecticut. He previously served as in-house counsel for a national insurance company and handled litigation involving complex coverage issues, with an emphasis on coverage litigation arising out of underlying construction defect and mass tort property damage claims.

Liz McBride focuses her practice on counseling and defending insurers in coverage litigation in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She has extensive experience handling insurance coverage disputes—including those related to construction defect, and assault and battery cases—as well as motor vehicle, fraud, product liability and first-party property matters. Liz is a member of the American Bar Association and the Philadelphia Bar Association. While studying at Penn State Law, she was the vice chair of the moot court executive board and a coach at the John J. Gibbons Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competition. Prior to law school, Liz played NCAA Division III soccer, basketball, softball and lacrosse at Immaculata University, and was captain of the soccer and basketball teams.

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