Michael is a partner in the New York Office. For over twenty years, he has concentrated his practice upon the litigation and arbitration of disputes of interest to insurers and reinsurers, as well as providing advice to insurers and reinsurers in non-contentious matters.
He has successfully litigated numerous especially complex and high dollar value matters, particularly involving insurance-related corporate transactions, retrospective insurance arrangements, life and health insurance and reinsurance programs, MGA and MGU agreements, and insurance insolvency.
Mr. Knoerzer also has substantial experience defending issuers of variable annuities and mutual funds in class actions and other litigations and arbitrations involving a variety of securities and broker-dealer related issues.
Mr. Knoerzer is a Past Chair of the Excess, Surplus Lines, and Reinsurance Committee of the TIPS Section of the American Bar Association. He has authored numerous articles and papers for industry organizations, including the annual review of U.S. Legal Developments for “Reinsurance” magazine. He is a frequent speaker and author on issues pertaining to excess insurance, reinsurance and the attorney-client privilege. He has spoken at conferences conducted by ARIAS•U.S., the American Bar Association, Mealey's, the Practicing Law Institute, and the American Conference Institute. He is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Michael is a Neutral for the New York State Supreme Court Commercial Division, for which he mediates various commercial disputes. He is admitted in New York and Connecticut State Courts and in federal courts, including the Courts of Appeal for the Second, Third, and Eleventh Circuits. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1984 and from St. John’s University School of Law in 1987, where he was an Editor of the Law Review and awarded the designation St. Thomas More Scholar.