Mary Kay Vyskocil is a Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett where she is a member of the Firm’s Litigation Department.  She handles general commercial litigation, and her practice is concentrated in insurance and reinsurance coverage litigation and cases involving the financial services industry.  She has been involved in the representation of major domestic and foreign insurers in complex coverage litigations (including numerous jury trials) throughout the U.S. in a wide variety of contexts, including environmental, asbestos, breast implants and other mass tort claims.  Ms. Vyskocil was one of the lead trial counsel in Shell Oil Company v. Accident & Casualty Insurance Company in California regarding coverage for environmental liabilities at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.  She represented a major insurer in several coverage litigations seeking insurance for Y2K remediation expenses.  Ms. Vyskocil currently represents Swiss Re with respect to coverage issues arising out of the World Trade Center attack, including the Silverstein WTC property insurance dispute, which resulted in a jury verdict in Swiss Re’s favor.

Ms. Vyskocil is also active in reinsurance litigations and arbitrations in the U.S., Great Britain and Bermuda.  She has been involved in a number of precedentially important reinsurance cases, including Travelers v. Gerling (2^nd Circuit re: “follow the fortunes”); Gulf v. Transatlantic (NY Appellate Court re: “access to records/privilege); Travelers v. Certain Underwriters (New York’s high court on treaty interpretation), Unigard v. North River (New York’s highest court on late notice), North River v. Cigna Re (Third Circuit on follow the fortunes), and ISLIC v. Underwriters at Lloyd’s (follow the fortunes and number of occurrences).

Outside the insurance area, Ms. Vyskocil was involved in the successful representation of JPMorgan Chase resulting in a $350 million verdict in a trial of a breach of guarantee action against Motorola arising out of the Iridium telecommunications transaction.  She was also involved in the representation of Paramount Communications in the Paramount-Viacom-QVC takeover litigation and represented Matsushita Electrical Industries in MCA v. Epstein, which was successfully argued in the U.S. Supreme Court.  Ms. Vyskocil has also served as outside counsel to the Archdiocese of New York.

Ms. Vyskocil is co-author of the leading treatise, Modern Reinsurance Law & Practice, 2d ed. (Glasser LegalWorks 2000) and is frequent lecturer and author on insurance and reinsurance coverage issues and on litigation and trial skills at continuing legal education seminars and bar association meetings. 

Ms. Vyskocil is active in professional organizations and community affairs.  She is a member of the Board of Directors of ARIAS U.S.  She is Secretary of the Federal Bar Council and currently serves as on the Second Circuit Courts Committee and Co-chairs the Fall Bench & Bar Retreat.  She is also active in the American Bar Association's Insurance Coverage Committee.  In addition, she is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York where she is a member of the newly-formed In-house/Outside Counsel Litigation Group and previously served on the Litigation Committee, the Federal Courts Committee and as Chair of the Insurance Committee.  She is a founding Member and Officer of the New York Inn of Court.  Ms. Vyskocil is a trustee of St. Joseph's Seminary and of Dominican College of Blauvelt, and President of the Alumni Board of Directors at St. John's University School of Law.  She has also served on the law school's Dean Search Committee.  From 1994 to 1997, she served as a co-chair of one of the subcommittees involved in the Second Circuit Study on Racial, Ethnic & Gender Fairness.  Ms. Vyskocil currently serves on the Joint Committee (of the Federal Bar Counsel and the City Bar) on Judicial Conduct.  She is also the recipient of the St John's University Pietas Medal (June 2008).

Ms. Vyskocil was cited in the National Law Journal’s “40 Under 40” (November 1995) which noted in particular her expertise in the area of reinsurance.  Named by Legal Media Group as one of the Top Ten Lawyers in the U.S. in the Insurance/Reinsurance field, Mary Kay is also listed in Chambers Guide to America’s Leading Business Lawyers (2006); Best Lawyers in America (2006); and Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Insurance & Reinsurance Lawyers (2006).  Who’s Who Legal 2006 named Ms. Vyskocil one of the top 15 lawyers globally and in the top 2 in the U.S. in insurance and reinsurance, calling her “one of the global stars for insurance and reinsurance work.”  She was also named one of America’s Top 50 Women Litigators by the National Law Journal (Dec. 17, 2001), and was listed in The New York Times as one of the “Top 100 attorneys in the New York metro area” (2007).

Honors/Associations

•	Director, ARIAS, U.S. November 2007-Present
•	Federal Bar Council, Second Circuit Courts Committee, 2004-Present
•	American Bar Association, Litigation Section, Committee on Environmental Litigation, Committee Vice-Chair, 1994-1998; Co-Chair, Midyear Meeting, 1995
•	American Bar Association, Section of Litigation Insurance Coverage Committee: Co-Chair, Annual Meeting, 2003; Co-Chair, Reinsurance Subcommittee, 1997-2000; Co-Chair Program Subcommittee, 2004-2005; Property Insurance Subcommittee, 2006-Present
•	Defense Research Institute
•	American Law Institute
•	Association of the Bar of the City of New York, In-house/Outside Counsel Litigation Group 2008-Present; Litigation Committee, 2005-2008; previously on Federal Courts Committee, 1997-2000; Chair, Insurance Committee, 1993-1996
•	St. Joseph's Seminary, Trustee
•	Dominican College of Blauvelt, Member, Board of Trustees
•	St. John's University School of Law, President, Alumni Board of Directors
•	Second Circuit Task Force on Racial, Ethnic and Gender Fairness, Subcommittee Co-Chair
•	Joint Committee (of Federal Bar Council and City Bar of NY) on Judicial Conduct, 2005-Present
•	New York Inn of Court, (Master) and Executive Committee Member

Publications

•	The Supreme Court Rules Against TV’s “Judge Alex,” Finding That an Agreement to Arbitrate Trumps State Administrative Process
•	New York Allows Consequential Damages Claims Against Commercial Insurers Outside Of Policy Limits
•	Supreme Court Hears Argument in its Second Significant Arbitration Case this Term
•	In Re Liquidation of Integrity Insurance Company: Cutting Off the “Long-Tail” of IBNR Claims
•	Continental Casualty Company v. Employers Insurance Company of Wausau: New York Court Decides Significant Asbestos Coverage Issues Against Insurer
•	Liability Coverage For Lead Paint Contamination: The Rhode Island Public Nuisance Lead Paint Litigation, One Year Later
•	Liability Coverage for Lead Paint Contamination: Insurance Implications of the Rhode Island Lead Paint Public Nuisance Verdict
•	Available Relief in Arbitration
•	Mealey's Insurance 101 Conference: A Practical Introduction
•	Occurrence and the Pollution Exclusion From the Perspectives of the Policyholder and the Insurer: Latest Developments - Environmental Insurance Past, Present, and Future
•	Ostrager & Vyskocil, Modern Reinsurance Law and Practice (2d ed. Glasser LegalWorks 2000).

Speaking Engagements

•	Mary Kay Vyskocil to Speak About Federal Court Practice March 27, 2008
•	Mary Kay Vyskocil To Speak at 2006 Fall Conference and Annual Meeting of ARIAS US November 2, 2006
•	Mary Kay Vyskocil Will Co-Chair Federal Bar Council Fall Retreat October 23, 2006
•	Simpson Thacher Partners Participate in The Office of the Appellate Defender’s “The First Monday in October” Mock Supreme Court Argument October 5, 2006

Admissions

•	New York 1984
•	U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York 1984
•	U.S. District Court Northern District of New York 1984
•	U.S. District Court Southern District of New York 1984
•	U.S. District Court District of Connecticut 1988
•	U.S. District Court Northern District of California 1988
•	U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit 1984
•	U.S. Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit 1985
•	U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit 1992
•	U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit 1993
•	U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit 1993
•	U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit 1996
•	U.S. Supreme Court 1989

Education

•	St. John's University School of Law, 1983 J.D. National Moot Court Team; St. Thomas More Scholarship
•	Dominican College of Blauvelt, 1980 B.A. Summa Cum Laude; Valedictorian