John E. Black, Jr.

Mr. Black contributes articles on professional, directors and officers (D&O), and fiduciary liability for IRMI.com.

Mr. Black is a partner at Skarzynski Marick & Black LLP, where his practice focuses on liability and insurance issues involving directors and officers, other professionals, and information security and privacy. He has represented major insurers in national programs of liability insurance for directors and officers of publicly traded, privately held, and nonprofit corporations. He assists insurers in drafting and interpreting insurance policies for D&O liability, privacy, network security, technology and media exposures, insurance brokers and company errors and omissions (E&O) and D&O, mutual fund and investment adviser E&O and D&O, employment practices liability, and other professional liability, and serves as coverage counsel for claims under such policies. He also has counseled clients on issues of D&O liability, data security, and privacy.

Mr. Black speaks and publishes frequently on liability and insurance issues. He has conducted in-house training sessions for insurers on insurance underwriting, regulatory, and liability issues and has been invited to speak before the NAII, the Chicago Bar Association, the Association of Lloyd's Brokers, and other organizations on D&O liability and insurance and privacy liability and insurance. He coauthored a chapter on "Information Security" in the recently released book, Internet Law for the Business Lawyer (2nd edition, 2012), published by the Cyberspace Law Committee of the ABA Business Law Section, and appeared as a panelist on an ABA webinar titled "Insuring for Data Security Threats: Everything a Business Lawyer Wants To Know but Is Afraid To Ask."

Mr. Black is a member of the American Bar Association, participating in the Tort and Insurance Practice Section, the Science and Technology Law Section, and the Business Law Section (where he is active in the Cyberspace Law Committee). He is a member of the Midwest Chapter Steering Committee of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society and a past chairman of the committee. He also is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals and holds a CIPP/US certification.

Mr. Black received his juris doctor in 1983 from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana, where he was on the Moot Court Board of Editors and the Law Review.