Recognized since 2021 on The Best Lawyers in America list for Insurance Law, Pamela Woods is a distinguished attorney specializing in a broad range of insurance recovery matters. Her expertise encompasses claims under directors and officers liability, homeowners, general liability, errors and omissions, entertainment production, and property insurance policies. Pamela adeptly represents clients seeking recoveries for various claims and losses, including bodily injury, business interruption, defamation, derivative liabilities, and property damage.
Pamela has successfully negotiated with insurers and obtained favorable settlements on behalf of clients in a wide range of industries. Additionally, she has achieved significant appellate victories for her clients in courts throughout the country, including the U.S. First and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals and in the Vermont and Delaware Supreme Courts. Her strategic litigation and recovery theories have been instrumental in recovering nearly a billion dollars from insurers, insurance brokers, and other parties.
In addition to her legal practice, Pamela served on the faculty of the UCLA School of Law, focusing on teaching legal writing and clinical litigation skills. She was one of the architects of the school’s innovative first-year Lawyering Skills program. Over her 13 years at UCLA, Pamela also taught or co-taught clinical classes in trial advocacy, pretrial lawyering, depositions and discovery, and interviewing, counseling, and negotiation.
Pamela Woods’s exceptional track record, combined with her teaching and litigation experience, makes her a highly respected figure in the field of insurance recovery and civil litigation.
Experience
- Represented a Fortune 500 food company and certain of its directors in litigation seeking coverage under directors and officers insurance policies for a $148M shareholder derivative judgment against them, obtaining several favorable settlements and a landmark decision on numerous D&O issues in a state supreme court.
- Represented a major film and television and distribution company in obtaining favorable settlements for losses resulting from production delays and cancellations caused by SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19.
- Representing the nation’s largest shipbuilder in litigation seeking coverage for losses resulting from COVID-19.
- Representing a property development company in a lawsuit seeking coverage for personal injury and property damage claims arising out the alleged contamination of property in the development process.
- Represented a public figure in insurance coverage litigation in California and Massachusetts to obtain coverage for defamation claims under homeowners policies and obtained a favorable decision from the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals establishing coverage.
- Represented a major security company in obtaining coverage for the settlement of personal injury claims arising out of the collapse of a condominium complex.
- Represented a major container manufacturer in multiple matters involving coverage for contamination and damage to food products due to defective containers, both in litigation and before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Represented a national bank in litigation seeking coverage under its bankers professional liability policy for a lawsuit brought by the Florida Department of Financial Services and obtained a favorable settlement for the bank.
- Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California BerkeleyJD1981
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Stanford UniversityBA
with distinction
1976
Selected for inclusion in “The Best Lawyers in America,” Insurance Law, 2021-2025; Litigation – Insurance, 2025, Woodward/White, Inc.
Named a “Southern California Super Lawyer,” Super Lawyers, 2022-2024
- Author, "Allocation Clauses in D&O Policies: Why the Larger Settlement Rule Generally Still Applies," The Recorder, December 22, 2021
- Author, "What You Should Know About D&O or R&W Insurance In Mergers and Acquisitions," American Bar Association Business Law Today, May 4, 2021
- Author, "The Coming COVID-19 Coverage Fight: Insured Versus Insured Exclusions and Collusion," New York Law Journal, May 21, 2020
- Author, "Narrowing the Scope of “Arising Out Of” Exclusions," Los Angeles Daily Journal, August 8, 2019
- California
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- Speaker, The COVID-19 Insurance Litigation Virtual Summit, July 23-24, 2020