Seth A. Ribner is a Partner of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP where he is a member of the Firm’s Litigation Department. Mr. Ribner has represented clients in the insurance coverage area nationwide and in complex securities and energy matters for more than two decades. He is a member of the New York and California bars.

Mr. Ribner has represented a number of Chartis Companies, Travelers Companies and ACE Companies in coverage disputes involving environmental, product and asbestos exposures. Mr. Ribner has also represented major first party property insurers, including Industrial Risk Insurers, in coverage litigations in California and New York. He has achieved excellent results for clients in specialized marine and aviation coverage disputes. Mr. Ribner was responsible for precedential appellate decisions in the area of environmental insurance coverage including Ogden Corp. v. Travelers Indemnity Co., 924 F.2d 39 (2d Cir. 1991), and Fruit of the Loom, Inc., v. Travelers Indemnity Co., 672 N.E. 2d 278 (Ill. App. 1996). He published an extensive article on the subject when the field was new, see Modern Environmental Insurance Law: Sudden and Accidental, 63 St. John’s Law Review 755 (1988), and continues to write commentary in the environmental coverage area as the issues evolve, see The Costs of Climate Change: Why Industry Should Not Look to Liability Insurance to Bear Them, Coverage, Sept./Oct. 2007 (with Deborah Stein).

Over his career, Mr. Ribner has litigated sophisticated securities and commercial disputes in federal and state courts in California as well as in New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Utah, Minnesota, Illinois, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. Mr. Ribner also developed significant expertise in energy issues representing Duke Energy in matters arising from the California energy crisis and in an adversary proceeding in the Enron Bankruptcy in New York.

Mr. Ribner is a member of the American Bar Association and the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Jerome Farris, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1982 to 1983. Mr. Ribner obtained a J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1982. He received an A.B. summa cum laude, with distinction, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pennsylvania in 1979.  Mr. Ribner also received an A.M. from the University at Pennsylvania in 1979.

Honors/Associations

•	American Bar Association
•	Los Angeles County Bar Association
•	UCLA Law School Dean's Advisory Council

Publications

•	Global Warming Alert: United States Supreme Court Issues Ruling in Connecticut v. American Electric Power Company, Inc.
•	Three Federal Courts Issue Back-to-Back Decisions Addressing the Viability of Global Warming Tort Actions
•	Corban v. USAA: Reinterpreting the Anti-Concurrent Causation Clause
•	California Supreme Court Rules on “Sudden and Accidental” Pollution Exclusion in State of California v. Allstate Insurance Company
•	The Costs of Climate Change: Why Industry Should Not Look to Liability Insurance to Bear Them, Coverage, Sept./Oct. 2007.
•	Curfews, Blockades and Physical Devastation: A Look at Business Interruption Coverage Post-Katrina.  Coverage, Sept./Oct. 2006.
•	Modern Environmental Insurance Law: Sudden and Accidental, 63 St. John's Law Review 755, 1988

Admissions

•	New York 1984
•	California 1995
•	U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York 1986
•	U.S. District Court Southern District of New York 1986
•	U.S. District Court Central District of California 1996
•	U.S. District Court Northern District of California 1997
•	U.S. District Court Eastern District of California 1998
•	U.S. District Court Southern District of California 1998
•	U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit 1989/Renewed 2010
•	U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit 1996

Clerkships

•	Hon. Jerome Farris, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1982-1983

Education

•	Columbia Law School, 1982 J.D. Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
•	University of Pennsylvania, 1979 A.M.
•	University of Pennsylvania, 1979 A.B. summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa