Just back from a day at the NY Insurance Department dealing with an asbestos related reinsurance issue, Elliott tells us that he’s also been doing a lot of work repping ratings agencies in life settlement securitizations. In ’09, he repped A.M. Best rating agency in the first major rating of an $8.4B life settlement portfolio securitization. According to the WSJ, these so-called “death-bet securities” have been instrumental in helping AIG repay the government for its ’08 bailout. Another large part of Elliott’s practice involves alternative risk transfer arrangements—when huge companies need to buy insurance for tax, regulatory, or financial purposes. In one such transaction, a major international oil company was “asked” by the Air Force if they could use its refinery to refuel planes during the forthcoming Iraq War. The company purchased an insurance policy (premium paid by the government) that protected it financially in the case they were bombed. Suddenly our car payments seem a bit less significant.

Here’s a picture of 20,000 carats of diamonds Elliott snapped at the Antwerp Diamond Bourse during a recent visit. The trip, he tells us, was part of his work repping diamond company Lazare Kaplan when $140M of diamonds went “missing,” most in transport between Angola and Dubai. Elliott helped the company force a $29M interim payment that kept it financially sound. The black diamonds on the front of the table, Elliott tells us, are from the Congo, and the pile on the right from Angola contains 3-carat rough diamonds that will be polished into 1-carat stones.

Here’s Elliott’s collection of fire marks—lead or copper plaques embossed with the sign of an insurance company, commonly placed on the front of an insured building to denote coverage in 18th and 19th century before Ben Franklin formed municipal fire services. The brown fire mark on the left is from 1764 and is next to a copy of the original policy. The front-middle mark is from Sun Alliance, and is a reminder of Elliott’s work repping Sun Alliance on its acquisition of Royal Insurance Company in ’96. As part of the job, he secured regulatory approval to transfer ownership for 14 insurance companies in eight jurisdictions in 45 days, often getting only an hour or two of sleep per night. His proudest moment during the marathon deal? Not missing a single little league game. (We imagine he was the guy sleeping on the bleachers). The trick, he says, was having a good relationship with regulators who respected his schedule.

Though Elliott’s Ukrainian-born father is a legend in the insurance industry, twice building up firms to over 100 lawyers, repping France in the US-France tax treaty negotiations in ’82, the first insurance lawyer to go to Japan, and serving as the only GC of the Institute of London Underwriters, one shouldn’t overlook Elliott’s mother, Ruth Kroll, who also practiced law into her 90s. While showing us a row of her original law books, he told us how he was once dismissed from jury duty because of his mother’s close relationship with William Payson Richardson, founder of Brooklyn law and author of the above famous Evidence Law text. In ’48, while eight-months pregnant with Elliott’s older sister, Ruth was arguing a maritime case in court. Opposing counsel told the judge he wouldn’t argue against a pregnant woman. The judge looked at the tenacious woman, back at the “gentlemanly” lawyer, then back at Elliott’s mother, and said, “You may proceed.”

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Roy Williams can catch a 30-yard pass, but he couldn’t snag former Miss Texas Brooke Daniels’ heart. And it led to legal action. After Roy dated the beauty queen (whose pictures are a bit too scandalous for Bisnow) for a year, ESPN reports that he proposed via USPS with $5,000 for school and dental bills, a baseball for her brother, a recorded marriage proposal, and a $76K diamond ring. Brooke reportedly turned down the proposal but claims to have “lost” the ring. Roy recently filed a civil suit to recapture the ring (apparently he’s given up on her heart), though it turned out Brooke’s dad had possession all along. (Ah, what a tangled web we weave….) The case just settled, which we interpret to mean that all rings are where they should be. Takeaway: go retrieve that marriage proposal from the corner mailbox. 

Perhaps setting a new standard in celebutante prudence, word has spread that Kim Kardashian and fiancé NBA forward Kris Humphries are seeking a prenup. One person who's not surprised? Moses & Singer matrimonial attorney Arlene Dubin (above), author of Prenups for Lovers: A Romantic Guide to Prenuptial Agreements. She tells us that the number of prenups she’s seeing are dramatically increasing, perhaps because the financial crisis left people anxious to protect their remaining assets. Arlene says prenups allow you to override state property division laws, provided they’re properly executed. Thinking about sending your fiancée a ring in the mail? You may want to think about mailing a prenup with it. And you might be interested in knowing that prenups are generally enforceable but should be signed at least 30 days before the wedding to avoid the appearance of coercion, Arlene says.