Bennett James Chin

Bennett Chin is the head of M4’s Design Professionals Defense & Counseling Group, primarily representing and counseling architects and engineers. He has represented clients in a wide range of projects including shopping centers, airports, municipal works, transportation projects, residential projects, hospital projects, commercial high-rises, restaurants and government buildings. He has given seminars on loss prevention and risk management and has lectured for numerous organizations, including AIA, ACEC, University of Hawaii School of Architecture, Lorman Education Services, California BAR/BRI and Hawaii BAR/BRI.

Mr. Chin attended the University of California, Berkeley and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy. He obtained his law degree from the Santa Clara University School of Law. 

His legal career has spanned being a partner in a small civil litigation practice in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he mediated, arbitrated and tried cases for various clients, to serving as a Senior Complex Litigation Attorney with Sedgwick, Detert Moran & Arnold, LLP in their San Francisco offices. At Sedgwick, Mr. Chin represented architects, landscape architects, civil engineers, developers and contractors in all aspects of construction litigation including discovery, mediation, arbitration and trial. He also managed the eDiscovery team in the defense of a large window manufacturer in a product liability class action lawsuit. 

Later, Mr. Chin served as Claims Consultant for XL Insurance – Design Professional in their San Francisco offices. He managed a large volume of design professional claims and loss prevention matters. Mr. Chin was directly involved in negotiating large losses through mediation and mandatory settlement conferences. He assisted insureds with contract review and assessment of their risk management practices.