© 2018 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(Feb. 12) – Seasoned insurance litigator Beverly Godbey officially changed the route of her morning commute Monday from Gardere Wynne Sewell’s office in uptown Dallas to Amy Stewart Law’s office in Mockingbird Station near Southern Methodist University.
Though the newest face (and eighth attorney) of Amy Elizabeth Stewart’s 7-year-old, policyholder-exclusive insurance litigation boutique, Godbey’s history with Stewart goes back more than two decades. In the 1990s, Godbey was Stewart’s boss at Gardere, where Stewart started her legal career.
“We worked together on some cases and that was the beginning of my extremely high regard for [Beverly] both as a person and a lawyer,” Stewart told The Texas Lawbook during an exclusive interview on Friday afternoon.
After Stewart departed Gardere in 1997, the two stayed friends over the years and continued to meet for lunch. Godbey said Stewart remained even more so on her radar when Stewart started her firm in late 2009.
“I was very impressed with Amy at the time she was at Gardere,” Godbey said in the interview. “And I was even more impressed when she had the courage and foresight to go out on her own and develop a policyholder side insurance coverage boutique, which is a very niche practice in the market.”
Amy Stewart Law’s unconventional and nimble approach to insurance law has apparently paid off, as Stewart says the firm has been busier than ever over the past couple of years as it continues to land corporate insurance work traditionally handled by large law firms.
As a result of her firm’s “exponentially growing” litigation docket, Stewart said she had been in the market to add another attorney to split senior level work with.
“As we’ve connected over the years, and especially in the last couple of years, I have made the comment that if she ever considers leaving the big law firm environment to move to a boutique,” Stewart said, Godbey would be more than welcome at Amy Stewart Law.
“Beverly has a sterling reputation in the legal community, specifically in our practice area of insurance coverage litigation… she also has heavy experience doing policy reviews, which corporate policyholder clients need,” Stewart said. “It will help me tremendously to have someone at Beverly’s level to share the senior lawyer work with and to have her to bounce ideas off of.
“I have projects already that I cannot wait to add Beverly to the brain trust and get her feedback on,” Stewart added.
Godbey said Stewart’s offer appealed to her because her practice has recently been significantly limited by the client conflicts that inevitably result from working at a large law firm.
What also appealed to Godbey was the fact that Stewart’s firm will give her an opportunity to work on more litigation for her corporate policyholder clients than consulting.
“I think it’s going to be fun to get back in the courtroom more,” she said.
That said, when a fast resolution is necessary, Godbey is known in the industry for her ability to “get things done with a letter,” Stewart said.
“It’s her reputation, the quality of her analysis and what she’s putting in that letter [that make] people take her seriously,” Stewart said.
Though Godbey is well-versed in the outcomes of insurance law, she said she achieved a new milestone a couple years ago when she helped a client recover the full aggregate limit of its employee theft insurance policy after the company underwent two employee thefts within the same policy year.
One growing trend the Tulane-trained lawyer is observing is the uptick in companies adopting cyber policies.
“I highly recommend that insureds obtain cyber liability if they don’t have it because that is a growing concern from a risk management standpoint,” Godbey said.
I saved the most serious question for last: by joining Stewart’s firm, will Stewart’s tendency to get mixed up with another Amy Stewart in the Dallas legal market (which gave her the nickname “Insurance Amy”) rub off on any other Beverly Godbey lawyer counterparts out there in the world?
“Actually, my husband (U.S. District Judge David Godbey) Googled it to find out,” Godbey said. “There are eight David Godbeys, and there are only three Beverly Godbeys… nobody we could find in Texas.
“I don’t think I’ll have to go by ‘Insurance Beverly.'”
© 2018 The Texas Lawbook. Content of The Texas Lawbook is controlled and protected by specific licensing agreements with our subscribers and under federal copyright laws. Any distribution of this content without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.
If you see any inaccuracy in any article in The Texas Lawbook, please contact us. Our goal is content that is 100% true and accurate. Thank you.