Rory L. Francis is a partner with Shapiro Bieging Barber Otteson, LLP.

As a member of the firm’s Insurance Recovery Practice Group, his practice focuses on insurance coverage and “bad faith” litigation.

Mr. Francis is an experienced insurance attorney who was the Senior in-house Litigation Attorney for a major commercial insurance company before joining SBBO in 2016.

Prior to that, Mr. Francis acted as General Counsel for several small companies in the insurance and healthcare industries in Colorado and Florida.  He also worked as an insurance litigator in private practice and for a boutique insurance defense firm.

Mr. Francis’ experience includes serving as Associate Regional Counsel for the largest publicly traded domestic insurance company.  In this position he was deeply involved in matters related to regulatory compliance, lobbying, legislative process and reform, and administrative proceedings related to all aspects of the insurance industry.

Mr. Francis spent two years as in-house Coverage Counsel and a substantial portion of his practice was dedicated to contract interpretation and centered on insurance coverage disputes of all kinds.

Before attending law school, Mr. Francis worked in the insurance industry for over 15 years, 13 of which were spent managing claims-related litigation in the Casualty and the Special Investigations Units. He directed litigation and oversaw “bad faith” and coverage dispute handling in eleven states, including Colorado.

Mr. Francis serves as an expert witness in insurance “bad faith” cases and is a regular lecturer on insurance matters locally and nationally.

Mr. Francis has extensive jury trial, bench trial and courtroom experience and is well known and respected by the Bar, the Courts, and Mediators throughout Colorado.  A seasoned veteran at trial and ADR, he has a successful record of resolving cases on behalf of his clients.

As an experienced commercial litigator, Mr. Francis has successfully represented many businesses and individuals in the Federal Courts of the 10th Circuit and District and Appellate Courts throughout the State of Colorado.

Mr. Francis studied Architectural Engineering and Geology at the University of Colorado before going on to receive his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with Minors in English Literature and Japanese from the University of Utah and his Juris Doctor from the University of Denver – Sturm College of Law.  During law school, Mr. Francis served as the Vice President of the Moot Court Board and was honored to work with Prof. Jan Laitos in drafting and revising the seminal Constitutional Law text, “Law of Property Rights Protection.”

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