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Zachary Lerner

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Zach chairs the firm's Insurance Transactional + Regulatory Practice Group and advises clients on their insurance M&A deals and key compliance matters. His experience ranges from cross-border transactions and insurtech compliance to surplus lines regulatory matters.

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This article was originally published on Insurance Journal and is republished here with permission as it originally appeared on November 3, 2025.

Anyone in the insurance brokerage world generally knows the three magic words that require an insurance producer license: the “sale,” “solicitation,” or “negotiation” of insurance. For too many, this is the end of the equation. Most state insurance codes do not expand on what these words truly mean beyond providing general definitions derived in whole or in part from the Producer Licensing Model Act (PLMA) promulgated by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). As a result, the market is saturated with inconsistent treatment of licensing practices, both at the individual and entity levels.Read More Practical Licensing Challenges & Solutions for Producers, Brokers, Adjusters & Other Intermediaries

On June 13, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1549 into law. Among other things, the bill has removed the “diligent effort” requirement applicable to surplus lines agents.Read More Florida Bill Eliminating the Surplus Lines Diligent Effort Requirement and a Discussion on Surplus Lines Regulation Trends

Join Locke Lord, InsurTechNY and InsurTech Hartford for their next InsurTech Legal Academy webinar series on common licensing issues that InsurTechs face when starting up or expanding their insurance-related activities. Expectations differ between the various states, as well as the NAIC, regarding what activities do and do not require insurance producer and surplus lines broker licensure (both on an individual and entity level). Moreover, even if an InsurTech is not making a final decision on whether to accept or deny a claim, it may “cross the line” into licensable activity as well. Zach and Moya will also touch on nuances in the reinsurance intermediary space as well, which differ substantially from insurance producer licensing standards in a number of states.
Read More Join Us for Our Next InsurTech Legal Academy Webinar: A Deep Dive Into Producer, Adjuster and Reinsurance Intermediary Licensing Regimes

We are happy to provide the 2024 edition of our Excess and Surplus Lines Law Manual. This edition reflects all of the pertinent changes in the surplus lines laws and regulations of the 50 states and U.S. territories during the past year. The website provides you with the ability to click on the states and territories of interest to view the updates, and a PDF of the entire manual.
Read More Excess and Surplus Lines Law Manual 2024 Update

Join Locke Lord, InsurTechNY and InsurTech Hartford for their next InsurTech Legal Academy webinar series on legal and regulatory issues ‎impacting the InsurTech industry. Each quarter, we’ll tackle a new important topic.
Read More Join Us for our Next InsurTech Legal Academy Webinar: Inducements and Rebates for InsurTechs

The excess and surplus lines insurance market is a rapidly-growing avenue for the placement of insurance policies in the United States. Many alien (non-U.S.) insurance carriers write surplus lines insurance coverage via their inclusion on the NAIC IID Quarterly Listing of Alien Insurers, and there has been exponential growth in the formation of “domestic surplus lines insurers” that are U.S.-based insurers authorized for the express purpose of writing only surplus lines insurance.
Read More A Deep Dive into the Diligent Effort (Search) Requirement

We are happy to provide the 2023 edition of our Excess and Surplus Lines Law Manual. This edition reflects all of the pertinent changes in the surplus lines laws and regulations of the 50 states and U.S. territories during the past year. The website provides you with the ability to click on the states and territories of interest to view the updates, and a PDF of the entire manual.
Read More Excess and Surplus Lines Law Manual 2023 Update

Join Locke Lord and InsurTechNY for their InsurTech Academy webinar series on legal and regulatory issues ‎impacting the InsurTech industry. Each quarter, we’ll tackle a new important topic, starting with a primer on ‎surplus lines insurance for InsurTechs.‎…
Read More You’re Invited: InsurTech Legal Academy Webinar Presented by Locke Lord and InsurTechNY

Earlier this month, United States Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chair of the Banking, ‎Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, urged the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) and the ‎National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to examine the increasing role of ‎private equity and alternative investment classes in the life insurance market as well as ‎offshore reinsurance. ‎…
Read More Senate Banking Committee Chair Urges FIO And the NAIC To Monitor Private Equity and Affiliated Offshore Reinsurance in the Life Insurance Industry