Laura M. Gregory

Partner

Office: 617-523-6010
Direct: 857-321-7020
Fax: 617-227-0927
Email: lgregory@sloanewalsh.com

LAURA M. GREGORY, Esq., CPCU is a partner at Sloane and Walsh LLP, Boston, MA where her practice focuses on insurance coverage and bad faith matters, before state and federal trial and appellate courts. She provides coverage analysis and advice regarding claims and policies in New England and nationally. Her practice includes both first party and third-party policy issues, personal and commercial lines policies, bad faith matters, and legislative and regulatory issues. She has specialized in insurance matters for over 30 years and received the CPCU designation in 1999. Laura is admitted to the Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont bars. She handles insurance matters in all those states as well as nationally.

She is on the board of directors of the Boston Chapters of both the CPCU Society and the Claims and Litigation Management (CLM) Alliance. She is a past director of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association (2014-2020) and current co-chair of its Insurance Substantive Law Group, and a past chair of the Boston Bar Association’s Insurance Law Committee (1997-1999).

Laura has authored numerous articles for both insurance and legal publications as well as a chapter in the anthology #Networked: How 20 Women Lawyers Overcame the Confines of COVID-19 Social Distancing to Create Connections, Cultivate Community, & Build Businesses in the Midst of a Global Pandemic. She also regularly teaches about insurance law to insurance professionals and attorneys, in New England and nationally, through her daily LinkedIn posts about insurance and in presentations to legal and insurance groups.

Laura also authored two amicus briefs, on behalf of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association, to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, successfully urging rejection of selective tender doctrine and seeking rejection of reptile theory arguments and actions, with partial success.

She was featured in The Standard’s Salute to Women in New England Insurance for 2022 and has been chosen as one of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly’s 2022 Top Women of the law.

Laura is also active in her community, currently in her third term as a member of the Andover Select Board, Andover’s elected five person policymaking body. Since first being elected in 2017, Laura has focused on diversity, equity and inclusion as well as continuing her commitment to the environment through maintaining open space and energy sustainability. As chair, she led the Andover Select Board through the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing its impacts on the town, government, and residents.

Visit Laura on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/laura-gregory and follow her hashtag #LauraHasItCovered.

Insurance Dispute Law, Insurance Coverage & Bad Faith
Property Insurance Law
Class Action Defense
Appellate Practice
Complex Civil & Business Litigation
COVID-19 Claims and Issues

Massachusetts, 1992
U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts
U.S. Court of Appeals 1st Circuit
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Maine
Vermont

University of Iowa College of Law, Iowa City, Iowa
J.D., with distinction – 1992

Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa
B.A. 1989
Political Science with an Interdisciplinary Concentration in Russian and Eastern European Studies (thesis required)

Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) Designation – 1999

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association (Director 2014-2020; current co-chair of its Insurance Substantive Law Group)
Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriters Society, Board Member (January 2022 to present)
Claims and Litigation Management (CLM) Alliance (Co-Director of Education and Board Member, Jun 2021 – present)
Andover, Massachusetts Select Board, member March 2017 to present; chair May 2020 to August 2021)
Boston Bar Association (Chair, Insurance Committee 1997-1999)
Massachusetts Bar Association
Frank J. Murray Inn of Court
Defense Research Institute
American Bar Association
Member, School Council, Doherty Middle School, 2011 to present (co-chair 2012-2013)
Member, School Council, Bancroft Elementary School, 2009-2011 (co-chair 2010-2011)
Member, School Council, Shawsheen School (2006-2009)
Member, Andover Public Schools Expanded Learning Time District Committee, 2007-2008

Gottlieb v. Amica Mut. Ins. Co., 57 F.4th 1 (1st Cir. 2022)
Fitzpatrick v. Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers of New York, Inc., 487 Mass. 507; 168 N.E.3d 361 (2021) – filed amicus brief on behalf of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association
Generali-U.S. Branch v. Commerce Ins. Co., 537 F. Supp. 3d 132 (2021)
Patriot Ins. Co. v. Holmes Carpet Ctr., LLC, 2017 DNH 229 (D. N.H. 2017)
Signal Variety v. Patriot Ins. Co., 2016 DNH 136 (D. N.H. 2016)
Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania v. Great Northern Insurance Company, 473 Mass. 745, 45 N.E.3d 1283, (2016) – – filed amicus brief on behalf of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association
Wonderland Entm’t, LLC v. Liquor Liab. Joint Underwriting Ass’n of Massachusetts, 80 Mass. App. Ct. 1102 (2011)
New Hampshire Ins. Co. v. Arpin, 65 Mass. App. Ct. 1120 (2006)
New England Tea & Coffee Co. v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co., 54 Mass. App. Ct. 903 (2002)
Hartford Cas. Ins. Co. v. A & M Associates, Ltd., 200 F. Supp. 2d 84, (D.R.I. 2002)
Leigh Ann Maher v. John G. Chase & others; Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, intervener, 52 Mass. App. Ct. 22 (2001)

“Yes, I have a Reservation!” The Dos and Don’ts of Reservation of Rights Letters, Insights, CPCU Society Journal, co-author, Spring 2021; reprinted in Michigan State Bar’s Journal of Insurance & Indemnity Law, July 2021.

Custom Cookie Machine’s Failure Excluded as “Impaired Property,” Lisa Miller and Associates Newsletter, March 2021.

#Networked: An Inspiration to Join the Community on LinkedIn, DRI, The Voice, Vol. 20, Feb. 2021.

Perspectives: Rising Sexual Assault Claims Test Insurance Policy Exclusions, Business Insurance Magazine, January 2021.

#LauraHasItCovered, in #Networked: How 20 Women Lawyers Overcame the Confines of COVID-19 Social Distancing to Create Connections, Cultivate Community, & Build Businesses in the Midst of a Global Pandemic, co-author, 2020.

Jury Trials in the Context of COVID-19, DRI October 2020 Insurance Law Committee’s Newsletter

What’s Next with the Business Interruption Cases Pending Across the Country?, Clew News, Summer 2020

Bad Faith Law: Is an Insurer in Bad Faith When It Did Not Settle a Claim Against Its Insured, Because Its Policy Required the Insured to Consent to the Settlement and He Would Not?, ABA Publishing, June 2020

Crumbling Connecticut Concrete: What Does “Collapse” Mean? Insight Magazine of the CPCU Society, Summer 2020 and DRI’S June 2020 Insurance Law Committee’s Newsletter

Homeowners, Health, and Auto Insurance – The Crossroads of Cannabis and Coverage, DRI’S January 2020 Insurance Law Committee’s Newsletter

Is It Bad Faith For An Insurer Not To Settle A Claim Against Its Insured, Because Its Policy Required The Insured To Consent To Settlement And He Would Not?, Clew News, CPCU Society, Fall 2019

Commerce Ins. Co. v. Szafarowicz: the New Road-Map for Insurance Coverage Litigation’s Impact on the Related Tort Case and Circumstances in which an Insured’s Settlement with the Plaintiff Is “Reasonable” Only If It Is Within The Insured’s Policy Limits, Mass DLA Newsletter, October 2019