Freya K. Bowen
Freya Bowen has over 20 years’ experience as a commercial litigation and arbitration attorney. For the past 11 years she has focused on insurance coverage under GL, D&O, professional lines, and other classes of coverage. In January 2023 she joined Lindemann Miller Bowen, working from Madison, Wisconsin, where, along with her husband Jeff, she now represents insurers and is also co-chair of the firm’s Professional Lines Practice.
She has served on the Board of Governors of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association, and on the Board of the Appellate Practice Section of the State Bar of Wisconsin. She teaches Introduction to American Law as an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School.
Freya holds a J.D. and a Ph.D. in English from University of California, Berkeley. She clerked in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and began her career at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Los Angeles before joining Munger, Tolles & Olsen, and later Perkins Coie, handling complex commercial disputes, including insurance coverage disputes. She has represented multi-national manufacturers, large financial institutions, significant publicly-traded and privately-held corporations, and individual directors and officers in high-stakes insurance coverage disputes, often in connection with professional liability and D&O insurance programs.
Freya’s experience includes commercial arbitrations and mediations; arguments before state and federal trial and appellate courts and administrative agencies; taking and defending fact and expert witness depositions; managing litigation teams; frequent briefing of legal issues in coverage litigation; and negotiating settlements of coverage disputes.
Representative Matters
Representative clients from both the insurer and policyholder side of Freya’s coverage practice include:
General Liability Policies
- A primary insurer pursuing claims for equitable contribution and equitable indemnity in connection with a construction defect class action.
- An excess insurer of a chemical manufacturer facing multiple environmental lawsuits and a significant multi-district litigation.
- A primary insurer of a subcontractor facing substantial liability in connection with a construction defect claim against a general contractor.
- Bankruptcy trustees seeking to fund settlement trusts with proceeds from general liability polices in connection with sexual abuse claims brought by multiple claimants.
- Religious entities seeking general liability coverage for claims of sexual abuse spanning decades and often involving lost policies.
- A law firm facing defamation claims filed by underlying defendants in lawsuits brought by the firm.
- A manufacturer of industrial coatings facing a products liability lawsuit arising out of damage to a deep-sea oil platform
D&O and Professional Lines Policies
- An investment company facing ERISA liability in connection with management of funds in 401(k) plans.
- A major healthcare provider facing a professional-liability class action arising out of its billing practices.
- A law firm facing professional liability in connection with cases brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act.
- Directors and officers of a multi-national manufacturer seeking coverage for overlapping claims under a D&O insurance program spanning multiple years.
- Directors and officers of a systemically important financial institution facing billions of dollars in potential liability.
- A mutual insurance company seeking coverage under a fidelity bond for losses arising out of a ponzi scheme.
Representative Clients from Freya’s general commercial litigation practice include:
- A manufacturer in a product-liability lawsuit arising out of food additives.
- A major online platform in a suit alleging it breached its subscriber and privacy agreements.
- A mortgage service provider in multiple lawsuits arising out of home mortgage foreclosure practices.
- A major pharmaceutical company facing a civil enforcement action arising out of its Medicaid billing practices.
- A special committee of the board of directors of a publicly-traded company in connection with an internal investigation of the company’s grant of employee stock options.
Education
University of California, Berkeley Law School, J.D.
University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D. in English
Licenses
Wisconsin
California