liability lawyer likes, and dislikes, about dealing with the local players in the excess liability field.

Joel Kleinman, a commercial US litigator with the Washington DC firm of Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin and Oshinsky, said he does not subscribe to a popular view that it was impossible to adjust a large loss in a mass tort area without having substantial expenses in coverage litigation first.

He was quite happy to report success in adjusting on an amicable basis a large breast implant loss with two Bermuda insurers with whom his client had coverage and "without spending a dime on litigation or arbitration''.

Mr. Kleinman was long on the list of pluses he found in dealing with companies in the Bermuda market, including claims handling expertise in the context of a large loss.

He complained of some claims handling that he's had to deal with elsewhere by noting, "Some people have a very narrow and parochial view of the role of loss. These are people who've never had the experience of living through a mass tort from beginning to end. They don't have peripheral vision or see the big picture.

"Claims people in Bermuda have the big picture, probably because of the huge net lines.'' He liked the speed of response exhibited by Bermuda companies, noting the American experience where insurers may take some time responding to questions surrounding whether or not the insurer's interpretation of the contract has the insured covered under particular circumstances.

He said companies typically take a long time to answer and then basically leave the interpretation to the insured.

Bermuda companies, he said, surprisingly answered within days and generally were more useful.

He said, "There are a couple of policy provisions, maintenance deductible provisions, in the fact that you can exhaust the self-insured retention with defence costs.'' He said that solvency was one of the things he liked the best about dealing with the Bermuda market. Dealing with ACE, XL and Starr, he assured is unbelievably good compared with the difficulties of dealing with some companies of the past, which became insolvent.

The strength of capital of companies here is more reassuring.

There are some drawbacks, he conceded, in dealing with Bermuda though, including the limited air service to the Island. He spent two days here before delivering his luncheon address.

He admits he doesn't like the lack of precedent when it comes to claims handling nor that arbitration of coverage issues is held in Bermuda or London, but not the US.