By THOM SENZEE Contributing Reporter A regional law firm representing insurance policyholders exclusively has become part of an East Coast firm, leading its Valley clients to hope nothing changes at what is now Anderson Kill Wood & Bender (AKWB). Like many Valley companies with their own legal-affairs staffs, Natrol, Inc. is savvy to the fact that, as in medicine, in law you’ve got to know when to call in a specialist. “I have an attorney for I.P. counsel, one for regulatory counsel,both in other time zones,” explained Steven Spitz, vice president and general counsel for Chatsworth-based Natrol. “It was by luck David was nearby in Ventura County.” “David” is David Wood, founding partner of southern Ventura County-based Wood & Bender LLP (now AKWB) a law firm in the comparatively small practice area of corporate policy-holder advocacy, also known as “the insurance industry’s worst nightmare,” according to Wood. The policyholders’ counsel community is very close-knit. Wood estimates that there are approximately 24 or 25 nationally-recognized firms that, like his, retain their purity of purpose, accepting no insurers as clients but exclusively representing those seeking recovery from insurance companies. WIth the joining of the two companies, Anderson Kill and Olick (as the combined firm will be called nationally) becomes the largest firm in this discrete practice area. While billed as a merger, it is hard to see the transaction as anything but an acquisition of a smaller firm with one office and 14 attorneys,Wood & Bender,by a larger one with 79 attorneys and offices in five cities. Nevertheless, a spokesperson pointed out that the name of the West Coast office still includes “Wood & Bender,” indicating, from his perspective, that the newly combined entity is indeed a partnership of equals. For clients such as Chatsworth’s Natrol Inc., all that matters is service. “I like working with a law firm where you can call the main partner up and he’ll call you as soon as he can,” said Spitz. “That’s a small-firm mentality.” According to Spitz, finding specialized representation that fits the needs of a company such as his often means going out of state. In fact, of the three major specialty areas for which the company seeks outside counsel, Wood’s firm is the only Southern California-based group of attorneys representing Natrol. “We retain David’s firm purely for coverage counsel,” Spitz said. “When you’re dealing with powerful insurance companies and teams of lawyers and you’re trying to fight a coverage battle or obtain some type of coverage, you want the expertise of someone who understands that area.” Spitz said Wood has provided Natrol with advantages such as attending company board meetings. He hopes that kind of access will continue post-merger. “I’m excited for his firm,” he said. “I think in this day and age small shops like that are quite attractive to larger firms that lack a presence in a particular practice.” Anderson Kill is recognized as the inventor of the practice area it dominates today. BusinessWeek called the firm’s founding partner, Eugene Anderson “the dean of policyholders’ attorneys.” Likewise, Wood and managing partner, David P. Bender Jr. bring their own industry cache to the marriage. In 2007, both were named Super Lawyers by Key Professional Media, Inc., which publishes the trade magazine, SuperLawyers. Wood & Bender publishes an award-winning magazine called Enforce, known in the industry as the journal of insurance policy enforcement. The publication will continue to be produced by Anderson Kill Wood & Bender. “Combining with Anderson Kill will give us the best of both worlds,extended reach and resources without any of the conflicts or encumbrances that joining a large firm often entails,” said Bender. Wood added that there is an underlying principle in his practice area. “There is in every train of commerce a shifting of risk, running from a wholesaler to a retailer to a customer. There is a contractual allocation of that risk,” he said. “Every once in a while someone will forget what risk they’ve retained and what risk they’ve shifted upstream.” When that happens, Wood said, emotions often run high. “The atmosphere it creates is contentious,” he said. “In claim disputes in which all efforts to settle have been exhausted and you get into litigation, the insurers can get very emotional.” If a policyholder advocate can show the court that an insurer acted unreasonably, the insured can get punitive damages. “That’s when the insurers get very upset,” he said. “We’re attacking the work they’ve done; therefore there’s a very clear line of demarcation there’s no crossing back and forth from. If you go to the insurance-industry practice side after you’ve practiced as a policy-holder advocate that’s ok. But you can’t come back to this side once you’ve been over there.” The jury is still out on the deal from a customer’s standpoint. “I’ve worked with David since 2004, and we have had very good relationship,” client Steven Spitz said. “I’ll be interested to see how his practice and the firm’s approach will change going from a smaller shop to a more national shop. I’m hoping the move will be a positive not a negative.”