Law School - Alabama, University of
Bar Admission - 9/27/1985
Law Office Locations:
Alabama: Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, Beyond Alabama: Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi
Geographic Areas Served:
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi
Overview
Betsy P. Collins practices in Burr & Forman’s litigation group.
Areas of Practice:
Commercial Litigation
Insurance Litigation
Government Investigations & Enforcement
Class Action
Securities Litigation
Torts
Product Liability
Member:
Alabama Bar Association
Georgia Bar Association
American Bar Association
Atlanta Bar Association
Birmingham Bar Association
Biography
J.D., University of Alabama School of Law, 1985
B.A., magna cum laude, Judson College, 1982
Betsy Collins is admitted to practice in Georgia and Alabama.
Betsy Collins is a member of the Atlanta Bar Association; Birmingham Bar Association; Georgia Association of Women Lawyers; Professional Liability Underwriting Society; Association of Life Insurance Counsel; and the American Bar Association, for which she serves as co-chair of the Section of Litigation’s Pre-Trial Practice and Discovery Committee and as co-chair of a programming subcommittee.
Betsy Collins was named in Guide to the World’s Leading Insurance & Reinsurance Lawyers, 7th Edition and Who’s Who Legal for Insurance in Georgia in 2007. In addition,Betsy Collins was selected for inclusion in the 2010 and 2011 Georgia Super Lawyers.
Betsy Collins enjoys gardening, reading, sewing, writing, fishing, golf, and horseback riding, but most of these are a rare treat!
Betsy Collins offers the following advice to law students: "I wish someone had advised me to start my career by doing some government or public interest work. I think it provides unique experiences. I often tell students to at least consider it because it is easier to start out in one of those jobs than to go back to one later."
Experience
Betsy Collins is a seasoned litigator whose career spans over two decades including tenure as in-house counsel for a large life insurance company. MS. Collins' litigation practice includes class action litigation, complex commercial and business litigation as well as securities litigation with an emphasis on responsibilities of directors and officers including related insurance coverage issues.
In addition, Ms. Collins has a wide-ranging insurance litigation practice that has included cases involving securities products of life insurance companies and other insurance-related securities, race distinct mortality pricing, burial insurance, claims practices, “vanishing premium” provisions, child-term riders, deceptive pricing, market conduct, sales practices, policy exchange programs, unfair competition, non-compete agreements, and life insurance company taxation.
Betsy Collins is a skilled trial advocate whose courtroom ability was highlighted by DRI’s president in the forward to “A Career in the Courtroom: A Different Model of the Success of Women Who Try Cases,” (2004) (“I have had the pleasure of trying two jury cases with [Betsy], one in Birmingham, Alabama, and one in Kansas City, Kansas. I have seen it so clearly in both cities, that Betsy communicates with women jurors differently than I do! And her communication is powerful and effective.”)
Betsy Collins successfully represented insurance clients in litigation matters related to unfair competition including jury trials in 2002 and 2004 involving issues with regard to variable annuity products, benefit structures, sales practices and pricing that resulted in verdicts on behalf of her client for $50 million and $45 million respectively, the first of which was listed by Verdict Search as number 52 in The Top 100 Verdicts of 2002.
Past trial victories also include a defense verdict in 2004 on behalf of director defendants accused of fraud by silence and breach of fiduciary duty in connection with their simultaneous service on the boards of two public companies with conflicting interests.
Betsy Collins has authored, co-authored and been quoted in numerous publications, the most recent including:
Business Liability Insurance Answer Book 2011-12, October 2011 (co-author Devin C. Dolive)
“Electronically-Stored Information (ESI) and Boards,” Directors and Boards - Boardroom Briefing, Co-authored by Betsy Collins and Ben Coulter (October 2010)
“Boards Advised to Oversee E-discovery by Tapping IT, Compliance, Other Functions,” Corporate Accountability, quoted (June 2010)
“Navigating Through a Sea of Documents: How Model Rule of Professional Conduct 4.4(b), Federal Rule of Evidence 502 and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5) Will Impact The Way We Litigate And Try Cases, ” ABA Section of Litigation 2010 Annual Meeting, white paper (April 2010)
“Hot Issues In Discovery: 2009 In Review,” ABA Section of Litigation 2010 Annual Meeting, white paper (April 2010)
“Six Sigma, the Discovery Process and the Corporate Legal Department,” ABA Section of Litigation 2009 Annual Meeting, white paper (April 2009)
“Will Conduct Exclusions Prove to be a Panacea for Professional Liability Carriers?” ABA Section of Litigation 2009 Annual Meeting, white paper (April 2009)
“Fault line: Coverage Litigation Arising Out of the Mortgage Industry’s Meltdown,” The Daily Report (February 2009)
“The Impact of Market Timing and Late Trading Probe on Variable Annuities: Increased Threat of Enforcement Actions and Expansive Regulations,” Vol. 9 Electronic Banking and Commerce Report 13 (May 2004)
“Variable Annuities: Fortuitous Beneficiaries of the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998,” Mealey’s Emerging Securities Litigation (May 2003)
“Life Insurance Law of Alabama,” XXXV Association of Life Insurance Counsel Proceedings 3 (1997)
Betsy Collins is a frequent presenter and has recently spoken at the following conferences and seminars:
“Better Safe than Sorry: Implementing eData Management Systems Now to Avoid Litigation Train Wrecks Later,” ABA Section of Litigation and Criminal Justice 2011 CLE Conference (April 2011)
“Disasters at Your Door: Personal Exposure of In-House Counsel,” Atlanta Bar Association’s Corporate Counsel Section Annual Meeting (June 2010)
“Alternative Fee Arrangements & Billing Changes,” ACC Value Challenge (May 2010)
“Navigating Through a Sea of Documents/Electronic Discovery Rules,” ABA Section of Litigation 2010 Annual Meeting (April 2010)
“Conduct Exclusions and Professional Liability Carriers,” ABA Section of Litigation’s 2009 Annual Meeting (April 2009)
“Six Sigma, the Discover Process and Corporate Legal Department,” Association of Corporate Counsel Atlanta Chapter Meeting (June 2009)
“Recent Developments in Class Actions,” ABA Section of Litigation 2008 Annual Meeting (April 2008)
“CSI Effect in Jury Trials,” ABA Section of Litigation 2007 Annual Meeting and The Kentucky Bar Association 2008 Annual Meeting (April 2007)
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