Overview
Andy Meerkins is a senior counsel and trial lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. Andy has litigated a variety of complex commercial matters and concentrates his practice in the areas of insurance and reinsurance. Andy has represented and counseled ceding companies and reinsurers in a variety of complex disputes involving both property and casualty and life, accident, and health business. Andy’s recent matters include arbitrating, on behalf of ceding companies, numerous high-stakes disputes involving yearly renewable term life-reinsurance premium rate increases, as well as several property-casualty disputes involving numerous complex issues. Andy also regularly counsels many of Foley’s clients on matters touching on insurance coverage.
In addition to handling insurance and reinsurance issues, Andy has notable experience with disputes involving distribution and franchise and antitrust and unfair competition.
Before entering private practice, Andy served as a law clerk to The Hon. Joel Flaum, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Prior to taking up law, Andy was a Teach for America corps member, teaching high school history and government on Chicago’s west side.
Representative Experience
- Prevailed on behalf of multiple ceding companies in multi-million-dollar reinsurance arbitrations involving rate increases under yearly renewable term life-insurance contracts
- Prevailed on behalf of ceding company in complex workers’ compensation arbitration with reinsurer
- Tried successfully trade-secret and unfair-competition case on behalf of oilfield-services company
- Represented waste-management company in post-acquisition dispute with selling company
- Represented manufacturer in dispute with unauthorized reseller in case involving Lanham Act and antitrust claims
- Represented medical-device manufacturer in antitrust litigation related to insurance coverage
Recognition
- Selected for inclusion in the 2021 and 2022 Wisconsin Rising Stars® list.
Education
Andy received his law degree from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, where he was a Wigmore Scholar, graduated magna cum laude and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He also served as senior articles editor for the Northwestern University Law Review and won the William Jennings Bryan Award for winning the intramural moot-court competition. He received his bachelor’s degree in education, with highest honors, from the University of Wisconsin—LaCrosse.
Publications
- Co-author, “Constitutional Challenges to Proposed Retroactive COVID-19 Coverage Legislation,” FORC Journal (3rd ed., Vol. 31) (2020)
- Co-author, “Dworkinian Antitrust,” Iowa Law Review (Vol. 10, Rev. 1) (2016)
- Co-author, "Avoiding Double Damages: 3 Practical Tips and a Hail Mary," Law360 (July 2016)
- Co-author, “Atypical Coverage Charts and Knotty Allocation Issues,” DRI Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute (2015)
- Author, “Distressing Speech After Snyder: What’s Left of IIED,” Northwestern University Law Review (Vol. 107, No. 2, Rev. 999) (2013)
Admissions
Andy is admitted to practice in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. He is also admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin and Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois and the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Seventh, Third and Federal Circuits.