Hitchcock & Cummings LLP

About Us

Hitchock and Cummings LLP is a law firm with specialized skills and extensive experience in two significant areas of practice: defending claims against professionals and servicing the business needs of the insurance industry

Our litigation practice focuses on defending professionals such as attorneys, accountants, actuaries, insurance representatives and other licensed professionals. Chris Hitchcock leads this practice with over 25 years of experience defending professionals and representing businesses ranging from large public corporations to small private firms. Chris has also represented real estate entities for many years in construction claims and disputes, insurance coverage mattes and claims bright against cooperatives and condominiums.

Our business practice is headed by Terry Cummings, a nationally recognized expert with over 20 years in licensing, regulatory matters and corporate transactions for the insurance and reinsurance industries. In addition, our experience advising risk purchasing groups is unmatched by any other law firm.

With substantial integration between our principal practice areas, we are well suited to handle complex commercial litigation, insurance coverage litigation, commercial and reinsurance arbitrations and other areas of dispute resolution.

Our partners personally supervise all client matters and employ associates with strong writing, research and people skills. Hitchcock & Cummings LLP is delighted to offer the depth of our experience and creative problem solving to businesses of all sizes.

Christopher Hitchcock and Terry Cummings have been professional colleagues for over 25 years. The early years of our professional careers were spent as associates at a busy law firm where we were exposed to almost every conceivable type of litigation, from very large commercial cases involving multiple parties and thousands of pages of documents, to smaller disputes. From the outset we were “hands-on” responsible for case management, client reporting and relations, and going head to head with adversaries in the New York State and federal court systems.

Christopher’s practice became more specialized in the early 1990s, and he is now one of New York City’s leading defense attorneys for lawyers in malpractice situations, insurance brokers and similar entities in professional liability disputes, and contractors and others in personal injury and construction litigation. He also represents clients and policyholders in insurance coverage disputes.

In the meantime, Terry’s practice led her to specialize in the field of regulation of the insurance industry. Her clients include insurance carriers, large and small insurance brokers, actuaries, consultants, and others involved in the insurance industry. Terry is a leader in the field of medical malpractice insurance issues, representing insurance industry clients before state insurance regulatory authorities. Like Christopher, Terry is involved in insurance coverage disputes for policyholders and carriers, and is also frequently called upon to draft insurance policy and reinsurance contract wordings for all kinds of insurance coverage. She has a thorough knowledge of captive insurance issues as well risk retention groups, and is a pre-eminent authority on the formation and operation of risk purchasing groups in accordance with the federal Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986.

Christopher and Terry both do appellate work in the New York State and U.S. Second Circuit courts of appeals.

The complementary nature of our respective practices was a key factor in our decision to form our own firm in early 2007. Hitchcock & Cummings LLP was conceived with a commitment to maintaining the quality, attention to detail, and personal service that we, the two founding partners, have brought to our practices for a quarter of a century.

Since we opened our doors for business we have established a reputation in the legal and insurance communities for giving our clients sound advice, litigating cases vigorously and effectively, and obtaining good results. Our philosophy is to continue to do what has proved successful for us since we began our careers – being accessible and accountable to our clients, being efficient in what we do, and doing what we do well. We are pleased to have been able to consolidate our early beginnings, and we are looking confidently to the future as our firm matures in size and reputation.

Our success depends upon the success of our clients, to whom we are committed to going the extra mile in our representation. Thank you for visiting our website. We hope to hear from you should you need our services.