Joshua Bachrach is the chair of Wilson Elser's Life, Health, Disability & ERISA practice. Josh represents clients in state and federal courts throughout the United States in litigation involving ERISA and non-ERISA life, health and disability disputes, as well as disputes over pension benefits. Josh also represents insurers in coverage and bad faith litigation and has experience with disputes involving managed care issues. He is a frequent speaker at national seminars on ERISA-related subjects and has written numerous articles on ERISA and related topics. Josh is a partner in Wilson Elser's Philadelphia office.

Patrick W. Begos is a partner at Robinson & Cole LLP in Stamford, Connecticut and New York City. His practice is focused on employee benefit claim defense, and he has represented plans, employers and fiduciaries in courts throughout the Northeast. In addition, Patrick represents companies and individuals in a wide array of commercial disputes, and has 30 years of litigation, arbitration, mediation, and negotiation experience in those matters. Patrick has written and presented extensively on employee benefits, and is a founder of the blog at ERISAClaimDefense.com. He is the Program Chair for the Life, Health, Disability, and ERISA Seminar.

Byrne J. Decker is the managing shareholder in the Portland, Maine office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. Mr. Decker has a nation-wide practice that specializes in the defense of employee benefits/ERISA litigation. He has defended benefits cases in federal courts in every federal judicial circuit. Mr. Decker is the Chair of DRI's Life, Health and Disability Committee.

Elizabeth G. Doolin is a member of Chittenden, Murday & Novotny LLC. She has 26 years of experience representing insurance and financial services industry clients and is a frequent author and speaker on insurance and litigation issues. She has also been recognized as one of the Top 10 Women Civil Appellate Lawyers in Illinois by the Leading Lawyers Network. She is a member of DRI's Life, Health and Disability, Data Management and Security, and Women in the Law Committees.

D. Larry Kristinik,III is a partner with the law firm of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP in Columbia, South Carolina where he serves as the Chair of the firm's insurance industry practice group. Mr. Kristinik's practice focuses on the defense of life, health, and disability insurers in matters involving alleged bad faith denials, rescissions based on misrepresentations, ERISA, agent misconduct, and interpleaders. He also defends broker dealers and investment advisors in claims brought by securities investors. Mr. Kristinik is the Program Chair of the 2018 DRI Life Health Disability & ERISA Seminar in Boston.

Leonor M. (Leo) Lagomasino a partner with Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in the Miami, Florida office, defends insurers in cases involving individual disability and ERISA, bad faith, life insurance and commercial first party coverage actions. She is the past Chair of DRI's Life, Health and Disability Committee.

Anna Maria Martin practices primarily in Northern California and Nevada and has over 25 years of experience in all aspects of civil litigation, including life, accident and health insurance, bad faith, ERISA, employment, personal injury, pest control, pesticide, Unfair Business Practices Act commercial and transportation law. Ms. Martin has litigated in state and federal courts throughout the United States. Ms. Martin has lectured on various legal issues to professional groups including those in the insurance and pest control industry. She is a member of the State Bar of California, State Bar of Nevada, the Defense Research Institute, the Bar Association of San Francisco, the American and Incline Village Bar Associations, California Women Lawyers Association. Ms. Martin was named a "Northern California Super Lawyer" in 2011-2017. Ms. Martin is resident in the Firm's Nevada and California offices.

Mark E. Schmidtke is a shareholder with Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. in Valparaiso, Indiana where he heads the Employee Benefit Litigation Practice Group. In a career that has spanned nearly forty years, Mr. Schmidtke has represented clients in employee benefits litigation matters in every state in the United States as well as jurisdictions outside the United States. He has authored books and numerous articles on employee benefit topics and is a regular speaker at national seminars. Mr. Schmidtke is a past chair of the ERISA Advisory Council of the U.S. Department of Labor, is named as a Best Lawyer, and is an AV lawyer with Martindale Hubbell.

Gary Schuman has lectured at numerous national and regional legal conferences and is widely published in a number of law journals and treatises on a variety of life, health and disability topics. Mr. Schuman is an active member with the Defense Research Institute, having served as Chair of its Life, Health and Disability Committee (2010-2012).

E. Ford Stephens has a litigation practice in Virginia with a focus on insurance and appeals. He represents insurers in life health, disability and ERISA litigation in both state and federal courts. He is a contributing author to the ABA's publications ERISA Survey of Federal Courts, and Misrepresentation in the Life, Health and Disability Insurance Application Process: A National Survey. Mr. Stephens is listed in Best Lawyers in America for Insurance Law (2015) and Virginia Super Lawyer Magazine for Insurance Coverage (2013-2015). He is a partner at Christian & Barton, LLP (www.cblaw.com), in Richmond, Virginia.

Scott M. Trager has a practice covers a broad spectrum of general litigation matters in the state and federal courts of Maryland and the District of Columbia, as well as the Maryland Insurance Administration and Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings. He focuses his practice on the defense of life, health and disability insurance claims (ERISA and non-ERISA), as well as administrative claims before insurance regulators. He also has extensive experience with policy rescissions and interpleaders. He is Vice-Chair of DRI's Life, Health and Disability Committee, and previously served as Program Chair of the 2017 DRI Life, Health, Disability & ERISA Seminar. He was selected as a Maryland "Rising Star" by Baltimore Magazine and Maryland Super Lawyers in 2011 and 2012. Mr. Trager has achieved an A/V rating, the highest possible peer review rating for ethics and legal ability, from Martindale Hubbell.

Julie F. Wall is a member of Chittenden, Murday & Novotny LLC in Chicago. She has over 15 years of experience representing insurance and financial services industry clients in ERISA litigation, life and disability insurance litigation, insurance coverage disputes, healthcare litigation, commercial disputes, and regulatory matters. She has significant trial and appellate court experience, and is a frequent author and speaker on insurance and litigation issues. She has degrees in Economics and Finance from the University of Dayton and received her J.D. from the University of Illinois.

James N. (Jim) Welty is Assistant General Counsel for Standard Insurance Company in Portland, Oregon, where he currently specializes in managing disability litigation throughout the country. During his 20 years with The Standard Jim has served as Senior Director in charge of the company's Administrative Review Unit and the Claims and Litigation team. Jim has been a speaker at several conferences regarding disability insurance, including the role of in-house counsel in managing and resolving disability litigation.