A. Kenneth Levine

Chair, Insurance Corporate & Regulatory

For over three decades, Ken Levine has represented insurance industry clients on regulatory, licensing, and corporate matters. He is chair of the firm's Insurance Corporate & Regulatory Practice Group within the Business Law Department.

Ken advises clients on a wide variety of issues, including insurer; reciprocal; captive; producer; managing general agent; administrator; and service contract, home warranty, and auto warranty provider licensing and compliance across the country. He has helped clients form, acquire, and invest in insurers and intermediaries. Ken’s constant participation in the regulatory process facilitates his counsel on market conduct compliance and remediation, rate and form wording and approval, financial reporting, reinsurance, receivership, and a host of other regulatory issues. Other firms routinely retain Ken for deals involving Holding Company Act analysis, filings, and other regulatory hurdles.

When needed, Ken has successfully prosecuted, defended, and settled dozens of contentious administrative and civil proceedings involving Florida regulatory agencies.

Ken began his career with the Florida Department of Insurance, culminating in positions as senior counsel and hearing officer in the Department's Office of Chief of Staff in Tallahassee, Fla., and earning the Commissioner's Outstanding Service Award and six Davis Productivity Awards. Before entering private practice in Tallahassee, Ken served as general counsel and personnel director of a large national company.

Ken is recognized by Chambers & Partners as one of the dozen top insurance attorneys in Florida, having achieved this honor every year since 2006. Chambers & Partners recently noted that he “wins great acclaim from clients for his excellent transactional and regulatory skills, with one complimenting ‘his knowledge, his contacts, his ability to get regulators to work with us, his follow-through, his timeliness and ability to explain things clearly.’ Another offers similar praise, remarking: ‘He is a great communicator and listener with a thorough understanding of compliance laws. He gets things done as promised and is a pleasure to work with.’” Ken also achieved the AV Preeminent Rating by Martindale-Hubbell (5.0/5.0) which signifies that a “lawyer's reviewed peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence for their legal knowledge, communication skills, and ethical standards”; and he has been listed by A.M. Best in its Directory of Recommended Insurance Attorneys.

Ken earned his bachelor's degree (B.S.M.) from the A.B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University, and his law degree from the Tulane University School of Law where he served on the Moot Court Honor Board and was awarded the Order of the Barristers. He has since authored various treatise chapters, articles, and compliance checklists – concentrating on technical regulatory topics and administrative procedure – published by LexisNexis, Matthew Bender & Company, Thompson Reuters, and other legal sources. In 2015, the Federation of Regulatory Counsel (a nationwide association of attorneys concentrating in insurance regulatory law) elected Ken to serve as the editor of the FORC Quarterly Journal of Insurance Law and Regulation.

Experience

News

Nearly 100 Cozen O’Connor Lawyers, 27 Practices Earn Top Recognition in Chambers USA 2024 Guide

June 10, 2024

Chambers USA rankings are based on an “assessment of a firm’s work and opinions from external market sources, with an emphasis on client feedback.” In order to be ranked in the guide, lawyers and firms must demonstrate “sustained excellence.”

Eighty-eight Cozen O’Connor Lawyers, 23 Practices Earn Top Recognition in Chambers USA 2023 Guide

June 05, 2023

Of the 88 lawyers ranked, 17 lawyers have been recognized nationally, and eighteen were recognized in Band 1. Eight of the firm's practice areas have been recognized nationally, and nine were ranked Band 1.

Chambers Ranks 86 Cozen O’Connor Lawyers, 22 Practice Areas in Chambers USA 2022 Guide

June 02, 2022

Chambers USA, the leading annual guide to the top lawyers and law firms in the United States, has ranked 86 Cozen O’Connor lawyers as leaders in their respective fields in the guide’s 2022 edition.

82 Cozen O’Connor Lawyers, 19 Practices Earn Top Recognition in Chambers USA 2021 Guide

May 26, 2021

Chambers USA, the leading annual guide to the top lawyers and law firms in the United States, has ranked 82 Cozen O’Connor lawyers as leaders in their respective fields in the guide’s 2021 edition; of those, 15 lawyers have been recognized nationally.

63 Cozen O’Connor Lawyers, 16 Practices Earn Top Recognition in Chambers USA 2020 Guide

May 14, 2020

Chambers USA, the leading annual guide to the top lawyers and law firms in the United States, has ranked 63 Cozen O’Connor lawyers as leaders in their respective fields in the guide’s 2020 edition.

Ken Levine Named to the Federation of Regulatory Counsel Board of Directors

January 02, 2020

Ken Levine, co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Insurance Corporate & Regulatory Practice, has been elected to the Federation of Regulatory Counsel (FORC) board of directors, representing the southeast region of the U.S.

Hurricane Michael Damage Dominates Insurance Concerns

December 19, 2019

Ken Levine commented on the impact of Hurricane Michael on the insurance industry in Miami Today.

Publications

The Contractual Obligation to Perform During a Global Pandemic

August 18, 2020

Kenneth Levine, co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Insurance Corporate & Regulatory Practice, authored an article on the contractual obligation to perform during a global pandemic.

In the Public's Interest [Best's Review]

December 20, 2016

Kenneth Levine, co-chair of the Insurance Corporate & Regulatory Group, discusses the misuse of assignment of benefit provisions in connection with homeowners policies and its potential to create a rise in fraudulent claims and rate increases.

Assignment of Homeowners Policy Benefits In Florida [FORC Quarterly Journal of Insurance Law and Regulation]

May 12, 2016

Ken Levine authored the lead article in the Federation of Regulatory Counsel’s FORC Quarterly Journal of Insurance Law and Regulation

Benefits from Life Insurance Prior to Death - New Appleman on Insurance Law Library Edition, Chapter 88 [LexisNexis]

January 01, 2013

LexisNexis retained Ken Levine to draft its chapter on living benefits under life insurance policies, for the publisher’s preeminent Appleman on Insurance library treatise. This chapter reviews the manner in which these benefits arise, including a discussion of cash surrender and nonforfeiture values; the historical evolution of regulation to preserve and administer these benefits; policy loans; accelerated death benefits; the secondary (viatical) market, tax treatment of these benefits; and, authority and support for other aspects of these benefits.

VEBAS, ERISA, and Other Cloaking Devices [Federation of Regulatory Counsel, Inc.]

May 01, 2010

Health care costs continue to rise, forcing a commensurate rise in the cost of traditional group insurance. Employers continue to seek affordable benefits for their employees in an effort to maintain a productive and competitive workforce. Inspired entrepreneurs enter the market to supply low-cost programs to meet this demand. Many of these programs qualify as insurance.

Events & Seminars

Past Events

CCIA's 2015 Annual Meeting

April 27, 2015 - Rancho Mirage, CA

Industry Sectors

Education

  • Tulane University Law School, J.D., 1990
  • Tulane University, B.S., 1987

Awards & Honors

Chambers & Partners USA: Florida: Insurance 2006-2024

AV Preeminent Rating, Martindale-Hubbell (5.0/5.0)

Board of Directors, Federation of Regulatory Counsel (board seat representing U.S. Southeast region)

Chairman, Law Committee, CCIA, 2014-16

President, Tequesta Country Club Community Association, 2016-19

Chair, Suncoast Community High School SAC, 2017-19

Appointee, State of California DCA - Service Contract Working Group, 2015-present

Tulane Moot Court Honor Board

Order of Barristers

  • Florida
  • District of Columbia
  • U.S. District Court -- Northern District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court -- Middle District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court -- Southern District of Florida
  • U.S. Court of Federal Claims
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
  • District of Columbia Court of Appeals
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • Federation of Regulatory Counsel
  • Half-Axe International
  • Consumer Credit Industry Association