The American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel (ACCEC), an organization comprising only approximately 160 of the top insurance lawyers in the United States and Canada, established the Thomas F. Segalla Award in honor of Thomas F. Segalla, Co-Chair of Goldberg Segalla’s Global Insurance Services Practice Group and a founding partner of the firm. Tom recently concluded his term as ACCEC’s founding President.

Each year, the organization will present the Thomas F. Segalla Award to recognize a member’s dedication and service to the College. The first recipients are Bruce D. Celebrezze of the law firm Sedgwick LLP in San Francisco and Mary McCutcheon of FB+M LLP in San Francisco.

ACCEC was formed in 2012 to improve the quality of the practice of insurance law through a focus on the creative, ethical, and efficient adjudication of disputes between policyholders and insurers over insurance coverage as well as extracontractual damages.

Tom has recently been recognized by a number of legal industry organizations. In April, he received the Defense Association of New York’s prestigious James S. Conway Award in recognition of his efforts to further and develop the defense bar through strategic and vigorous defense of clients in litigation.

Last fall, the Defense Research Institute (DRI) established the Tom Segalla Chair of the Law Institute in his honor. The chair, a position that will be held by future chairpersons of DRI’s Law Institute, recognizes his longtime commitment to DRI and a generous gift by Tom and his wife Mary Lou to benefit the organization. Additionally, DRI established in Tom’s honor an Excellence in Education Award to acknowledge his passion for raising the standards of excellence and ethics in the legal profession.