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We interviewed three of the top dogs in the world of underwriting, covering topics ranging from the softening market, pricing strategies, customer loyalty, the next generation of talented employees and D&O cover.

TPAs are coming under fire for not living up to their contracts. A recent case could establish a precedent in the way self-insured employers can fight back.

Our two-part special report features an insider's take on the state of the P/C reinsurance market, along with a look at how private-equity operations insure themselves.

Underwriters are in short supply and in high demand, but who needs them anyway with the available technology? It turns out an artful underwriter will never go out of style, and insurers are stepping up efforts to train and hire top guns.

Will your company's operations become a "nuisance," in the worst legal sense of the word? Or is your use of technology, or lack thereof, opening you up to the unknown unknowns of risk?

2008 could be an interesting year for the captive insurance industry. The dreaded new taxation regulations were unceremoniously pulled off the table by the IRS in February, but onshore captives (as well as offshore captives) still have serious challenges ahead--namely, the softening market.

U.S. companies that are involved in China and other Southeast Asian countries have emerging risks that are becoming all too familiar. Ask Mattel. Meanwhile, an old liability exposure--asbestos--isn't as terrifying, thanks to a new legal database and defense tactics.

Obesity is linked with higher injury rates for employees on the job, as well as extra expense when it comes to healthcare. In other words, extra pounds equals extra claims frequency and severity. On the other hand, claims fraud is one factor that's no surprise when it comes to extra expenses.

The world of workers' compensation is evolving. Keep up, first, by learning how to handle the basics--buying coverage in the up and down cycles that have driven and probably will always drive pricing. Then discover what's driving regulatory changes in the present--the redefinition of second injury funds in states around the country. Finally, explore the cutting-edge of disability: behavioral health and the APA's new tools to manage it.

Lloyd's of London or Beijing? The leader of Western reinsurers' push into China reveals a little bit more about its China strategy. Meanwhile, American multinationals and other aging companies consider ART strategies for one of their most pressing financial liabilities--employee pensions.

On one side of the equation, you have healthcare facilities feeling the relief of loosening med-mal coverage--yet confronting emerging risks like digital privacy and cybersecurity. On the other, you have employers enjoying more control over their employees' health benefits, yet getting squeezed between profit-seeking BUCAs and progressive Washington politicians. Healthcare issues keep getting different, but they stay the same pain.

Innovation in insurance? Some would contend that's an oxymoron. Others that insurance was one of the most innovative financial services products ever created. We spent nearly an entire issue on the topic--on products, technology, underwriting, alternative risk--and can say that even we were surprised by some of our own answers to this question.

Insurance and reinsurance companies are turning to ERM to attempt to ride out the waves of the pricing cycle, the current softening included, to make their businesses more successful and stable. And if they don't, the ratings agencies are right there to give them demerits.

Captives are building interest in the construction biz, and they're a life-saver for life insurers. No wonder domestic domiciles such as Vermont and South Carolina are trying to stake their claim as home to these self-sufficient insurance companies.

The insurance industry supposedly has a recruitment and retention issue when it comes to claims personnel. Is this true? And if it isn't, can today's claims staff handle the catastrophic claims resulting from astronomical health-care costs?