Buckingham Palace

The D&O Diary’s European sojourn continued this week with a stop in London. Fortunately, the beautiful weather we enjoyed in Paris followed us to London, where blue skies and warm sunshine prevailed throughout our visit. It was only a brief stop for us in London before heading on to other destinations, but it was still a great visit.

The primary purpose of my visit was to participate as a panelist at an event for the London insurance market sponsored by the insurer Inigo. The afternoon conference was the latest installment in what has become an annual event. The event took place at the beautiful Four Seasons hotel, near the Tower Hill underground station. The panel, which discussed the latest issues in D&O liability, included Michael Bongiorno of the Wilmer Hale law firm and Jonathan Gardner of the Labaton Sucharow law firm, as well as Tom Ielapi of Inigo. Yera Patel of Inigo moderated the panel. The panel adopted a Fact or Fiction approach, where Yera would make a statement and the panelists had to agree or disagree with what she said. It was a lot of fun.

Here is a picture of the panel, taken after the session; from left to right: Tom Ielapi; Jonathan Gardner; Yera Patel; Michael Bongiorno; me.

I would like to thank my fellow panelists for making it such an enjoyable session. I would also like to thank Yera, Tom, Ed Whitworth, and all of their Inigo colleagues for inviting me again to be a part of this excellent event. It was well-run, well-attended, and first class all the way. It was great having the chance to see so many friends from the London market and to make new friends as well. It was also great to meet so many people that read The D&O Diary.

With Ed Whitworth, Head of D&O for Inigo
With Mia Stewart of Willis and Emma James of Probitas.
With Owen Dacey of Rising Edge
With Trenton McNee and Joanna Carruthers of WTW
With Jason Rose of Howden
With Gemma Rose of Willis and Jack Wood of Probitas
Here’s my annual selfie with Yera Patel. Yera, I think it turned out well this time.

The brevity of our time in London afforded us only limited time to look around while in town before moving on. But we did have a brief chance to enjoy the glorious weather that was in effect while we were there.

By tradition, upon arrival in London, the first thing I do after checking into my hotel is to walk through Green Park and St. James’s Park. Following this tradition on this visit was particularly enjoyable because of the weather. Here’s a view of the Horse Guards from the bridge over St. James’s Park lake.
Here’s a view in the other direction from the bridge; that’s Buckingham Palace in the background. We did stop by the palace to try to congratulate Charles for his new hat. Even though he was in town while we were there, he didn’t have time to see us. Next time, call ahead.
My preferred London hotel in the Earl’s Court district. I like the hotel because of the quiet residential neighborhoods in the surrounding streets. On our one free night in London, we took a stroll through the neighborhood. Here’s a picture taken in The Boltons, a circular drive with particularly nice houses.
The weather was just about perfect for strolling around the neighborhood’s quiet streets.
Our visit to London was all too short, but I did at least have a chance to have a pint at one of my favorite pubs in the neighborhood of our hotel, The King’s Arms, on Fulham Road.