Commercial & Business Litigator & Trial Lawyer
This is the personal website of Scott Seaman. Scott is a business and commercial litigator, trial lawyer, and appellate lawyer with more than 38 years of experience. He is a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, is co-chair of the firm's Global Insurance Services Practice Group, is the firm's industry sector leader for the insurance industry, and serves on the Executive Committee. Scott is widely regarded as one of the leading attorneys in the United States representing insurers and reinsurers in property and casualty matters. He is known for employing his deep knowledge of the law and insurance industry, strategic thinking, and honed trial and appellate advocacy to produce creative solutions and outstanding results for clients!
Clients regularly turn to Scott and his team for counsel and representation in challenging and high-stakes insurance and business matters. Scott has a long track record of successfully representing companies before trial courts, appellate courts, and arbitration panels across the country in a variety of cases and matters involving general liability coverage (primary, umbrella, and excess), professional liability coverage, directors and officer's liability insurance, first-party property coverage, bad faith and extracontractual matters, fee disputes, and facultative and treaty reinsurance contracts. He has served as national coverage counsel as well as trial and appellate counsel. He also advises and represents companies on cyber, privacy, data breach, IoT, nanotechnology, gig economy, viruses and pandemics, representations and warranties insurance and transactional insurance, social unrest, ESG, climate change, and other emerging issues, as well as a wide-range of case-specific and portfolio issues.
Clients regularly turn to Scott and his team for counsel and representation in challenging and high-stakes insurance and business matters. Scott has a long track record of successfully representing companies before trial courts, appellate courts, and arbitration panels across the country in a variety of cases and matters involving general liability coverage (primary, umbrella, and excess), professional liability coverage, directors and officer's liability insurance, first-party property coverage, bad faith and extracontractual matters, fee disputes, and facultative and treaty reinsurance contracts. He has served as national coverage counsel as well as trial and appellate counsel. He also advises and represents companies on cyber, privacy, data breach, IoT, nanotechnology, gig economy, viruses and pandemics, representations and warranties insurance and transactional insurance, social unrest, ESG, climate change, and other emerging issues, as well as a wide-range of case-specific and portfolio issues.
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Hinshaw Insurance Law TV Receives 2024 and 2025 Distinction Awards @ 30th and 31st Annual Communications Awards
Hinshaw Insurance Law TV Receives 2024 and 2025 Distinction Awards @ 30th and 31st Annual Communications Awards
Hinshaw Insurance Law TV Receives 2024 and 2025 Distinction Awards @ 30th and 31st Annual Communications Awards
Hinshaw Insurance Law TV Receives 2024 and 2025 Distinction Awards @ 30th and 31st Annual Communications Awards
Hinshaw Insurance Law TV Receives 2024 and 2025 Distinction Awards @ 30th and 31st Annual Communications Awards
Our Two volume Insurance Treatise Addresses Important Issues In Contemporary Insurance/Reinsurance Disputes
Chambers USA Band 1 Insurance
American Lawyer Names Scott Seaman Mid-West Trailblazer for His Work In Insurance law
Selected To 2025 Crain's Chicago Business Notable Litigators & Trial Lawyers
Cancer Book Receives International Impact Book Award
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Scott has also handled a variety of challenging international, professional liability, health/life science, director and officer liability, tort and product liability, and business and commercial cases. He has served as an arbitrator and has been retained as an expert witness. He has drafted contract language, trained insurance and reinsurance professionals, and assisted companies in evaluating and resolving issues in the claims stage.
Scott graduated magna cum laude and first in his law school class from the Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, where he served as a law journal editor and received numerous scholarship and leadership awards.
Scott is a prolific author and speaker - writing and speaking on a variety of substantive legal issues as well as on litigation practice matters. His two volume treatise, Allocation of Losses in Complex Insurance Claims (13th Ed. Thomson Reuters 2025), addresses many of the important issues driving contemporary insurance claims and coverage litigation and reinsurance cessions and arbitrations. His new book America 250: The History Of Insurance & Insurance Coverage Law & Litigation In The United States celebrates the role and contributions of insurance throughout our country's history, provides insights into these "Golden Ages" of the insurance coverage wars, and unpacks modern insurance coverage law. He hosts television and radio shows. Scott was honored as a Distinction Winner in 2024 and again in 2025 in the Communicator Awards as host and executive producer of Hinshaw Insurance Law Television. He is frequently quoted in publications across the country and beyond our borders.
Scott graduated magna cum laude and first in his law school class from the Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, where he served as a law journal editor and received numerous scholarship and leadership awards.
Scott is a prolific author and speaker - writing and speaking on a variety of substantive legal issues as well as on litigation practice matters. His two volume treatise, Allocation of Losses in Complex Insurance Claims (13th Ed. Thomson Reuters 2025), addresses many of the important issues driving contemporary insurance claims and coverage litigation and reinsurance cessions and arbitrations. His new book America 250: The History Of Insurance & Insurance Coverage Law & Litigation In The United States celebrates the role and contributions of insurance throughout our country's history, provides insights into these "Golden Ages" of the insurance coverage wars, and unpacks modern insurance coverage law. He hosts television and radio shows. Scott was honored as a Distinction Winner in 2024 and again in 2025 in the Communicator Awards as host and executive producer of Hinshaw Insurance Law Television. He is frequently quoted in publications across the country and beyond our borders.
Scott has received numerous professional awards, recognitions, and acknowledgments.
Scott was named to the inaugural list of Midwest Trailblazers by The American Lawyer magazine. The list recognizes 50 professionals from 12 Midwestern states "who have moved the needle in the legal industry" and "are truly agents of change." He received this honor based upon his "high-profile, complex insurance coverage cases nationwide, which resulted in precedent-setting rulings that have altered insurance law."
Crain’s Chicago Business selected Scott as a 2024 Notable Leader in Accounting, Consulting & Law, recognizing senior-level leaders who have demonstrated the ability to effect positive change within their organizations, serve as role models and mentors, and contribute to their communities through leadership roles in professional and nonprofit service organizations.
Scott was also named by Crain’s Chicago Business to its 2025 Notable Litigators & Trial Lawyers. Honorees were selected for having led high-stakes cases and bet-the-company litigation with outcomes that had a significant, positive, and precedent-setting impact on client companies and their industry sector. The impact extends beyond the courtroom, with leadership in professional organizations, mentorship, and community service.
Scott is committed to public and community service and civil rights and served on the National Board of Selectors of the Jefferson Awards for Public Service (the Nobel Prize for Public Service). He has a legacy of achievements on behalf of people impacted by cancer. He has served on numerous charitable boards and committees.
Scott is committed to public and community service and civil rights and served on the National Board of Selectors of the Jefferson Awards for Public Service (the Nobel Prize for Public Service). He has a legacy of achievements on behalf of people impacted by cancer. He has served on numerous charitable boards and committees.
This website includes some of Scott's legal work but is devoted to:
- Legal broadcasts and publications;
- Charitable work relating to conquering and curing cancer;
- Other charitable and social activities;
- Public and community service and promoting engagement;
- Entertainment and sports; and
- Non-legal publications and appearances.
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Now Available
America 250: The History Of Insurance & Insurance Coverage Law & Litigation In the United States. Available in hardcopy, softcover, and as an e-book.
Chambers USA
Under Scott's Leadership, The Firm Is Ranked Nationally In Insurer Dispute Resolution And Garnered Regional Rankings In California, Florida, And Illinois. The Firm Has Also Garnered A Tier 1 Rating In Insurance Law Nationally And Regionally In Chicago In Best Law Firms.