Thomas E. Gibbs is a Partner in the Corporate Practice of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP.
Mr. Gibbs has extensive experience in the areas of corporate acquisitions and mergers, private equity, insurance and reinsurance law and banking. He also has substantial international law experience.
Mr. Gibbs holds an AV Preeminent rating by Martindale Hubbell® and the Legal 500 United States 2010-2011 edition listed him as a Recommended Lawyer in Mergers, Acquisitions and Buyouts. The October 2012 edition of Jacksonville 904 Magazine listed him as one of the area’s top attorneys in Business Transactions and Corporate law.
In 1986, Mr. Gibbs opened the Florida office for the New York based Le Boeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae law firm. He has served as an officer and director of numerous corporations, including President of the MetLife Security Insurance Companies, Managing Director of Charter International Reinsurance Company BV, and Vice Chairman of the Board and General Counsel of insurance conglomerate Consolidated International Group. For more than a decade, he has also served on the Board of several different commercial banks and an investment banking firm.
Mr. Gibbs has substantial insurance regularity expertise. He has prosecuted a wide variety of client matters including: change of control (contested), licensure, examination advice, solvency and Holding Company Act issues in Delaware, Florida, New York and numerous other jurisdictions. He also has experience with title insurance, captive insurance companies and in the surplus lines market.
Mr. Gibbs is a member of the American Bar Association, the Florida Bar, the International Bar Association and the Jacksonville Bar Association.
Mr. Gibbs received his B.A. degree, with honors, from the University of Florida in 1975. He earned his J.D. from the University of New Hampshire Law School in 1978. He is admitted to practice in Florida and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
Mr. Gibbs serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Director of the UF Foundation, and Member of Presidents Council for the University of Florida.
American Bar Association
The Florida Bar
International Bar Association
Jacksonville Bar Association: Commercial Litigation Section
“Commercial Banks in the Insurance Industry,” speech presented to various industry groups
“Mergers and Acquisition in the Insurance Industry,” speech presented at the National Association of Life Insurance Companies (NALC) Annual Convention
“The Development of the Financially Oriented Life Insurance Product in the United States,” Keynote Speaker, Life Insurance Association of Japan
“Asset Quality and Insurance Company Solvency” Speaker, Examination Oversight Committee of the NAIC
“Financial Solvency and Surplus Relief Reinsurance,” Speaker, Examination Oversight Committee of the NAIC