Lockton today announced two additions to its industry-leading Transaction Liability Group, with Brian Collet and Dan Hoppe each joining the group as Senior Vice President in the Representations and Warranties Insurance practice.
Collet joins Lockton from Level 5 Capital Partners, where he served as COO and General Counsel, following a prior stint as General Counsel for a family office. Collet began his career as a private equity lawyer at Nixon Peabody before spending six-plus years in a VP/Senior Legal Counsel role at Partners Group, where he advised the investment teams and negotiated operative documents in the private equity secondaries space. Collet’s focus at Lockton will be the continued expansion of Lockton’s market-making secondaries practice, spanning product innovation, client development and policy negotiation.
“Our group has worked hard to create a viable market for Representations & Warranties Insurance and Tax Insurance in the secondaries space and we are quite proud of our results and market share to date,” said Matt Heinz, partner and co-practice leader in Lockton’s Transaction Liability practice. “However, Brian’s arrival is a gamechanger and an example of our continued commitment to developing this specialty market, both in terms of client and carrier engagement; his skill set and experience are truly unique to the transaction liability insurance community and will further set Lockton apart as a partner to our clients and an innovator for our insurers.”
Hoppe joins Lockton after a decade practicing law at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, including the last five as a Partner in Kirkland’s Private Equity M&A practice. Hoppe provided the full suite of M&A legal services to his fund clients and served as lead counsel on dozens of transactions at both the platform and portfolio company/add-on level. Hoppe’s practice extended into significant work on R&W Insurance policies for his clients, and he gained a wealth of experience in negotiating R&W policies within the broader deal framework, with an eye to client concerns around coverage breadth and execution.
“R&W Insurance has become ubiquitous as a deal tool in the Private Equity community, and Dan’s experience negotiating R&W policies aligns perfectly with the level of thoughtful client service that we strive to provide at Lockton,” said Joshua Halpern, also a partner and co-practice leader in Lockton’s Transaction Liability practice. “Dan is an M&A expert first and foremost, but his wealth of experience in negotiating R&W insurance policies and in understanding his clients’ sensitivities and priorities in the R&W Insurance context is unmatched in our industry and will prove to be an incredible asset for Lockton’s clients.”
Lockton’s Transaction Liability practice is global in scale and scope, and the arrival of Collet and Hoppe comes on the heels of Joe Bevan-Colgan having recently joined the Lockton team in London (opens a new window) to also focus on expansion of Lockton’s global secondaries offering. Lockton continues to add talent and expertise to its global M&A practice at a velocity and quality unseen in the industry and to the benefit of Lockton’s global client base.