CHICAGO – Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP today announced that Nat Shapo has joined the Firm as a partner in its Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice. Mr. Shapo will be based in the Firm’s Chicago office.

Mr. Shapo served four years as director of the Illinois Department of Insurance where he was a national leader, having been elected to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) executive committee four times, twice as a national officer. He was also chair of the NAIC's Functional Regulation Working Group, negotiating jurisdictional issues with federal bank regulators; and chair of the NAIC International Holocaust Committee Task Force, acting as lead regulatory negotiator of a historic $275 million settlement with the German government and German insurance companies for unpaid Holocaust era policies. In addition, he represented state insurance regulators in negotiations in Tokyo between the U.S. Trade Representative and Japanese regulators.

During his tenure at the Department of Insurance, Mr. Shapo sought and obtained passage of laws which eliminate the use of race as a factor in life insurance rating practices, reform and ensure greater accountability in the corporate governance of insurance companies, and monitor and provide civil redress against organized insurance fraud. In addition, he promulgated rules and regulations to implement Illinois' Managed Care Reform and Patient Rights Act of 1999.

Mr. Shapo has testified before Congress three times: once as director, regarding Holocaust issues, and twice as an attorney in private practice regarding property casualty regulation. He has also testified as an expert regarding property casualty regulation in the Texas House of Representatives and at the Newfoundland Public Utilities Board.

In private practice, Mr. Shapo has represented clients in nearly every area of insurance on a wide variety of regulatory, litigation, and public policy matters. Most prominently, he successfully represented all major property-casualty insurers in challenges to the use of credit scoring in underwriting and rating, considered or brought in separate actions by the NAIC, an eight state consortium, and individual states.

Mr. Shapo has served as a Lecturer in Law and as a member of the Visiting Committee at the University of Chicago Law School. He received his B.A., with honors, from the University of Chicago in 1990 and his J.D., with honors, from the University of Chicago Law School in 1998.

Katten’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice is adept at achieving the business objectives of its clients in cases ranging from contract disputes and regulatory matters, to securities class action lawsuits and other complex commercial litigation. It serves its clients with a broad, national litigation practice, staffed in each office by attorneys whose backgrounds and experiences are as varied as the clients it serves. The Practice combines knowledge of its clients’ business, with skill in the law and the art of advocacy. The experience and foresight of the Practice’s attorneys leads to sound assessments of business and legal risks, accurate estimates of costs of defense, and, when necessary, favorable settlements. As a result, it is able to deliver cost-effective services on multi-million dollar cases and efficiently respond to smaller matters.