Nicole concentrates her practice on complex residential and commercial property insurance litigation, maritime litigation, bad faith litigation, and alternative dispute resolution. She regularly advises insurance carriers by providing coverage and excess exposure opinions and assists with claims handling procedures and insurance fraud investigations. She has extensive experience representing insurers in coverage disputes from pre-suit matters through the litigation process in both state and federal courts, including handling all aspects of legal proceedings, from pleadings, motion practice, and discovery to depositions, court hearings, and trial preparations.
Nicole’s maritime practice encompasses a broad range of claims, including maintenance and cure, breach of the warranty of seaworthiness, breach of the warranty of payment through voyage completion, and breach of the warranty of passage home. She also handles breach of marine contract claims, marine indemnity claims, passenger claims, and matters arising under the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and the Death on the High Seas Act. In addition, her work includes Shipowner’s Limitation of Liability Act claims, maritime lien claims, piracy claims, towage and pilotage disputes, salvage and general average claims, marine insurance issues, and claims under General Maritime Law, including those involving the maritime aspects of aviation.
Before joining Cozen O'Connor, Nicole was a partner with a midsized litigation firm in Florida, where she focused on property insurance litigation. Before that, she served as corporate counsel for a Florida insurer, focusing on first- and third-party real property insurance claims and providing coverage analysis. She brings a unique perspective to her representation of insurer clients, having begun her career working for various home builders, title companies, real estate firms, and property insurance carriers throughout the state of Florida.
Nicole earned her B.A. in finance from Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business. She then earned both the Florida 6-20 Resident All-Lines Adjuster License and the Florida 2-15 Life, Health, and Variable Annuity Agent License before earning her J.D., cum laude, from Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad College of Law.