Attorney

Kristin Davis

Kristin Davis advocates for corporate policyholders and hospitality industry litigants in state and federal court. She also counsels clients in commercial litigation disputes.

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Experience

Kristin’s practice focuses on representing corporate clients in active litigation, whether its pursuing insurance coverage for policyholders in first- and third-party coverage litigation or defending hospitality industry clients in contract disputes and from tort claims. Through mediation and litigation, she has successfully resolved client matters for a variety of coverage claims and complex commercial litigation, ranging from mass tort and environmental liabilities for Fortune 500 companies, to professional liability coverage for directors and officers and their financial institutions, to property damage and business interruption claims for government contractors and hotels.

Kristin also counsels businesses on risk mitigation and methods for maximizing returns on insurance programs and how to respond to a loss immediately after it happens, without resorting to litigation. This work includes negotiating settlements with other parties in supply-chain disputes and/or negotiating settlement of insurance coverage before litigation commences. Representative examples of her success include negotiating coverage for a former director being held personally liable for his bankrupt company’s state tax liabilities and advising and procuring recoveries for multiple types of corporate clients on product recall and general liability coverage after defective products (or components incorporated into their products) resulted in property damage, bodily injury, and/or lost business income.

Kristin maintains a significant pro bono practice, having represented individuals and organizations in federal court, state court, immigration court, landlord-tenant court, and at administrative hearings. Currently, Kristin serves as habeas counsel to long-time hunger striker and artist, Ahmed Rabbani, a Guantanamo detainee held without charges in US custody for 17 years. Her past pro bono work includes serving as habeas counsel and part of the periodic review board private counsel team for the last Russian Guantanamo detainee, released in January 2017. She also has represented refugees and asylum seekers in Greek refugee camps and in the US, including obtaining parole and asylum for a political asylum seeker and his family in a case that required trying matters of first impression.

Kristin graduated from Vanderbilt University Law School, where she served as an associate editor on the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. She was a two-year member of the Philip C. Jessup international law moot court team, which was the Southeast Super Regional Champion Team in 2009. Kristin remains an active member of the Jessup community, judging at the regional and international level. While in law school, she also interned at the U.S. Department of State, Office of War Crime Issues and U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights, Special Litigation.

Prior Law Firm

  • Weisbrod Matteis & Copley PLLC – 2017-2019
  • Reed Smith LLP – 2013-2017
  • Dickstein Shapiro LLP – 2009-2013

Education

  • J.D., Vanderbilt University Law School – Philip C. Jessup moot court team (Southeast Super Regional Champion Team); Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law; Executive Committee, Legal Aid Board (2009)
  • B.A., Swarthmore College, cum laude (2006)

Bar Memberships

  • District of Columbia; Virginia
  • U.S. Courts of Appeals – District of Columbia Circuit
  • U.S. District Courts – District of Columbia; E.D. Va. & E.D. Va Bankruptcy Court; E.D. Mich.; W.D. Tenn.

Awards & Recognitions

  • Thomson Reuters SuperLawyers – Washington DC “Rising Star” for Insurance Coverage (2014-2021)
  • Reed Smith Angela Holland Award (2017)
  • Vanderbilt Banks Award (2009)
  • Vanderbilt Scholastic Excellence Award: International Criminal Law (2008)

Representative Publications & Speaking Engagements

Speaking Engagements

  • A Insurance Coverage Law Committee Conference, Sharing is Swearing: Challenges and Gaps in Insurance Coverage Where the Sharing Economy Meets Reality (March 2020)
  • Risk Insurance and Management Society Annual Conference, Shooting Phish in a Barrel: Preventing and Responding to Cyber Crimes (May 2019)
  • D.C. Bar Pro Bono Project, Risk Management & Insurance: What Non-Profits Should Know (November 2017, April 2019)
  • ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Conference, Don’t Appraise Me Bro? Navigating the How’s and Why’s of the Appraisal Condition. (March 2019)
  • D.C. Bar Pro Bono Project, Risk Management & Insurance: What Small Businesses Should Know (November 2017, 2018)
  • ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Conference, New Developments with the Notice/Prejudice Rule in Late Notice Cases in Both Claims Made and Occurrence Policies (March 2018)
  • Risk Insurance and Management Society Annual Conference, Notice Early, Notice Often: The Art of Giving Effective Notice of Claims or Circumstances (April 2018)
  • ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Conference, Developments in Coverage for Tax
    Liabilities
    (March 2017)

Publications

  • March 2019 – Key Legal Issues for Hotel Operators During Coronavirus,” Law360 (Co-author)
  • March 2019 – Don’t Appraise Me Bro? Navigating the How’s and Why’s of the Appraisal Condition. ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee (Co-Author)
  • February 28, 2018 – It’s Too Late Baby, Now It’s Too Late: New Developments with the Notice/Prejudice Rule in Late Notice Cases in Both Claims Made and Occurrence Policies, ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee (Co-Author)
  • April 8, 2013 – Why Hotels Should Now Look At Political Risk Insurance, Hotel Management Magazine (Co-Author)
  • August 2012 – Contra Proferentem: Every Insured’s Favorite Latin Phrase, King County Bar Bulletin (Co-Author)
  • May 2012 – Insurance: Your Safety Net for the Internet, King County Bar Bulletin
    (Co-Author)
  • May 2009 – The Emperor Is Still Naked: Why the Protocol on the Rights of Women
    in Africa Leaves Women Exposed to More Discrimination,
    42 VANDERBILT J. OF TRANSNAT’L L. 3 (Author)