Melissa D’Alelio Named Insurance and Reinsurance 2023 Lawyer Of The Year

Robins Kaplan LLP is thrilled to announce that Boston partner Melissa D’Alelio has been named “Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyer of the Year” in Euromoney’s 2023 Women in Business Law Americas awards. She is recognized for her professional accomplishments in the insurance industry, as well as her advocacy for the advancement of women in the legal profession.

“Melissa is a business strategist, complex problem-solver, consummate team leader and, of course, a phenomenal trial lawyer. But what particularly makes Melissa stand out is her personal dedication to her clients and to the promotion of diversity in the legal industry,” said Lauren Coppola, deputy managing partner of the Boston office. “As a leader in her practice, Melissa promotes, trains, and works with diverse lawyers, including fostering client relationships and offering junior female attorneys leadership opportunities in her cases. Her case and trial teams not only consistently achieve successful results under her leadership but demonstrate the very best in talent and diversity.”

D’Alelio is chair of the firm’s Insurance and Catastrophic Loss Group and a member of the Executive Board. She focuses her practice on commercial general liability and property claims, representing clients in the investigation, litigation, and trial of a broad range of first- and third-party coverage, subrogation, reinsurance, and bad faith matters. She has extensive experience representing insurance companies across the U.S. and abroad in high-stakes property coverage investigations, appraisals, and litigation involving collapse, design defect, earth movement, environmental exposure, and catastrophe claims.

D’Alelio is deeply committed to helping women advance in both the insurance industry and the legal profession. She is a member of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (FDCC) and the Loss Executive Association (LEA).  She previously served as vice chair of the American Bar Association’s Property Insurance Law (PILC) Committee, a role during which she spearheaded major advances in PILC membership diversity. She has also been an active member of the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association for over a decade. In 2017, she co-founded the firm’s Women in Insurance group, which organizes events and Insurance Insight newsletters that highlight and feature women’s voices in the insurance industry. 

Based on her achievements, D’Alelio was recently ranked for Insurance in the 2023 Chambers USA Guide. She has also been recognized as a “Woman Worth Watching” by Profiles in Diversity Journal and a “Massachusetts Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyers.

Along with our winner, Robins Kaplan was pleased to have three women partners shortlisted in this year’s awards: Tara Sutton, Kellie Lerner, and Emily Tremblay. See the full list of 2023 Women in Business Law Americas award winners here.