Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG) has recently appointed former in-house counsel at an insurance company, Rick Da Costa, as the head of its national corporate and regulatory insurance and reinsurance team. Da Costa, who joins from the law firm Cassels Brock & Blackwell, brings to the team his rich in-house experience from his time as VP and senior assistant GC at Zurich Insurance Co.
Stephen Redican, the national leader of BLG’s specialized business law group, recognizes Da Costa’s unique skill set for his new role, stating , “”His years as in-house counsel at Zurich have given him invaluable insight into realities faced by senior leaders and corporate counsel in the insurance and reinsurance industries.”
Throughout his career, Rick Da Costa has notably been a part of the first legal team to successfully re-domesticate a captive insurance company into Alberta under the province’s newly introduced captive insurance legislation. He continues to play an active role in this space, his responsibilities stretching into helping clients structure and set up new captives, re-domesticate existing captives, and provide support to captive insurance managers.
His other professional accomplishments include earning a designation as a Certified In-House Counsel in Canada from his time at Zurich and assisting Canadian insurance regulators in refining their respective insurance laws. He has also offered consultancy services to the federal government regarding updates to Canada’s insurance and banking legislation.
BLG, with its current team of over 800 lawyers and intellectual property agents spread across five offices throughout the country, holds the distinction of being the largest law firm in Canada. Notably, it ranked 123rd on ALM’s 2022 Global 200 ranking. With Rick Da Costa now heading the insurance and reinsurance team, the firm further strengthens its financial services offering to clients.
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