Fred Warren Jacoby is a commercial litigator with an emphasis on construction law. Fred has notably diverse experience and is a sought-after advocate and adviser who serves companies in the construction, real estate, and financial services industries. He represents clients in their most significant commercial litigation and regularly provides strategic counsel on operations and contracts to help clients avoid potential disputes. He is also a vice chairman of the firm and a member of the Advisory Committee that counsels the firm’s board of directors and management committee.
As senior adviser to the Construction Law practice, Fred represents owners, contractors, and construction managers in economic disputes with stakes ranging from several million to several hundred million dollars. He has experience handling large construction failures, OSHA compliance, bid protests, public construction contracts, delay claims, contract disputes, and many other construction-related issues.
On the financial services side, in addition to litigation matters, Fred represents insurers, insured parties, broker-dealers, and other registered representatives in the development and distribution of financial services products, with particular emphasis on property and casualty insurance and the life settlement market.
Fred also advises brokers, consultants, and business and private clients regarding their formation and use of captive insurance companies. This includes not only from a regulatory standpoint in working with the insurance departments of proposed domiciles of these companies and developing feasibility studies but also in the development and implementation of a business plan to include both regulatory, actuarial, tax and other disciplines. Among the clients for whom Fred has worked in establishing captive insurance companies are Toll Brothers and Crownway (formerly Crown Cork and Seal). Fred also serves as a consultant for clients, brokers, and others in their initial consideration and analysis of the applicability and desirability of captive insurance companies for their particular situations.
Chambers USA recognized Fred as a Band 1 "Notable Practitioner" in Construction Litigation in 2014 to the present. His peers consistently recognize Fred as a "Best Lawyer" and "Super Lawyer" in his respective practice areas. Best Lawyers in America© named him a 2016 Lawyer of the Year© for Construction Litigation, and he has been recognized as a "Best Lawyer" from 2006 to 2022 and a "Super Lawyer" from 2004 to 2022.
Fred's distinguished career as a litigator and overarching range and experience as a trusted advisor and consultant lend unique gravity to his position as an American Arbitration Association panelist whom attorneys, law firms, and general counsel alike turn to for measured guidance. Fred also serves as a Commerce Judge Pro Tempore in the Commerce Court Program of the Court of Common Pleas for Philadelphia County. He is an active member in numerous professional associations, including the American, Pennsylvania, New York, Philadelphia bar associations, the American Association for Justice, the Life Insurance Settlement Association, and the Society of Financial Service Professionals.
Fred received his undergraduate degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Before attending law school, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army, including in Vietnam. He earned his law degree, cum laude, from the Dickinson School of Law, where he was an editor of the Dickinson Law Review.