Vivek Chopra
- Washington, D.C. Office Managing Partner
- Washington, D.C.
Vivek is a nationally ranked trial lawyer who represents policyholders in insurance coverage litigation in state and federal trial and appellate courts and domestic and foreign arbitrations. He has recovered more than $2 billion for clients in these actions.
Vivek Chopra regularly counsels clients regarding policy language, renewal of insurance, and securing payment of claims without resort to litigation under all types of insurance policies. Vivek represents some of the largest companies in the world, including 3M, Hawaiian Electric Company, Amazon, Western Digital, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and Lendlease. He routinely speaks on insurance coverage issues and trial practice at industry and bar conferences, including the Association of Corporate Counsel’s national conference and the American Bar Association Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee’s CLE meetings.
Prior to his work in private practice, Vivek served as an Assistant State's Attorney with the Montgomery County, Maryland State's Attorney's Office. In this position, he successfully investigated and prosecuted a wide range of crimes, including fraud and homicide; conducted numerous grand jury investigations, and represented the state as first chair in numerous jury and bench trials.
In 2006, Vivek was the co-lead prosecutor for the Montgomery County Sniper Prosecution Taskforce. He organized and managed the operations of a team of FBI, ATF, and local law enforcement agents, and conducted the month-long trial of Washington, D.C.-area sniper John Allen Muhammad.
On a pro bono basis, Vivek represents juveniles charged as adults in cases involving felonies. He has repeatedly succeeded in arguing for the suppression of confessions made by minors in violation of their Fifth Amendment rights, and his defense of a child in Prince George’s County, Maryland, resulted in reductions in the length of pretrial incarceration of children charged as adults. Vivek also represents individuals and families in deportation and removal proceedings.
Areas of focus
Education & Credentials
Education
- Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 1995
- Cornell University, B.A., Economics, 1992
Bar and Court Admissions
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District of Columbia
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Maryland
Related Employment
- Dickstein Shapiro, LLP, Washington, D.C., Partner
- Montgomery County State's Attorney Office, MD, Assistant State's Attorney, 2003-2007
- DevMethods Inc., Founder & Vice President of Business Development, 2001-2003
- Varsity Group Inc., In-house Counsel, 1999-2001
- Winston & Strawn, Washington, D.C., Associate, 1995-1999
Professional Recognition
Listed in Chambers USA as "America's Leading Lawyers" for Insurance, 2022-2024
Listed in Best Lawyers in America: Insurance Law, 2018-2025
Listed in Washington D.C. "Super Lawyers," 2013-2020
Named as one of eleven "National Litigation Insurance Stars" in Benchmark Plaintiffs Litigation, the Definitive Guide to America's Leading Litigation Firms & Attorneys, 2012
Named as "Local Litigation Star" District of Columbia in Benchmark Plaintiffs Litigation, the Definitive Guide to America's Leading Litigation Firms & Attorneys, 2012
Insights
News
Professional Experience
Experience
- Lead counsel for WorldStrides, the nation’s largest student travel company, in the recovery of more than $150 million in coverage for losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the largest COVID-19 recovery to date for Perkins Coie’s Insurance Recovery practice.
- Lead counsel for Hitachi Zosen Corporation’s $100 million property damage claim for damage to the “Big Bertha” TBM in Seattle, Washington. Vivek’s team secured a favorable settlement after two weeks of trial in King County Superior Court.
- Co-lead counsel for Residential Capital Liquidating Trust in a suit against 10 professional liability insurers regarding more than $300 million in defense and indemnity claims. The matter is currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
- Co-lead for Hawaiian Electric Industries’ insurance recovery for the August 2023 Lahaina, Maui wildfires. This involves claims for more than $5 billion in losses under all lines of coverage (commercial general liability, property, directors and officers liability, and professional liability).
- Lead counsel for Western Digital recovering full policy limits for property damage to the company’s largest manufacturing plant after Thailand floods.
- Co-lead counsel for Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's largest public utility, in securing insurance coverage for the clean-up costs associated with the largest coal ash spill in United States history. Vivek’s team recovered more than $330 million from property and liability insurers through settlements and two complete victories in two-month arbitrations against two Bermuda-based excess liability insurers. The first arbitration win, for more than $170 million on a $150 million policy, is reportedly the largest trial win over a Bermuda insurer in the last decade.
- Lead counsel for Lendlease, one of the largest commercial construction companies in the United States, in a $100 million coverage suit in New York state court. Vivek is national coverage counsel for Lendlease and represents the company in coverage actions related to construction defect claims, multiparty CCIP programs, and subcontractor default claims.
- Lead counsel for a national bank in a series of coverage disputes with its bankers' professional liability insurers for defense and indemnity costs related to class-action overdraft fee litigation. Vivek’s team successfully recovered more than $10 million in coverage.
- Lead counsel for Level 3 Communications (now Century Link) in litigation in Louisiana federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit over hearing loss-related bodily injury claims; this litigation resulted in millions of dollars in defense coverage and several favorable settlements.
- Coverage counsel for a Fortune 50 pharmaceutical company in a four-month trial in New Jersey state court against more than 30 of its primary and excess liability insurers. The trial resulted in settlements worth several hundreds of millions of dollars and a liability verdict almost entirely in the client’s favor.
- Co-lead counsel for Carnival Cruise Lines in litigation in New York and Florida federal courts against six first-party property insurers and its broker over the destruction by hurricane of a major installation in Mexico; mediation resulted in payment of the claim.
- Trial counsel for Merrill Lynch in two-month trials in the Massachusetts Superior Court, Business Litigation Session; defeated claims for punitive and consequential damages.