Eugene Benger is a counsel and a member of the firm’s Financial Institutions Group and Insurance Practice. Mr. Benger’s practice focuses on insurance regulatory matters, including holding company transactions, legislative developments, and regulatory compliance and enforcement.
Mr. Benger joins Debevoise from the New York Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”), where he served most recently as General Counsel for Insurance. During his tenure at the NYDFS, Mr. Benger advised senior officials, examiners and actuaries on insurance regulatory, legislative, employment and litigation matters, and participated in developing proposed legislation and regulations. He also played a leading role in reviewing holding company filings in connection with M&A transactions, including a number of high-profile acquisitions of New York insurance companies by private equity firms.
Mr. Benger joined the Office of the General Counsel of the former New York Insurance Department in 2009 and was promoted from Senior Counsel to Deputy General Counsel for Insurance in 2010. The New York Insurance Department and the New York Banking Department merged to form the NYDFS in 2011 and he advanced to his most recent position in 2013. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Benger served as Counsel to the Commission to Modernize the Regulation of Financial Services, a blue-ribbon commission of Wall Street CEOs, government leaders and consumer advocates appointed by former Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer and then-Insurance Superintendent and current Debevoise partner, Eric R. Dinallo. Immediately prior to his time with the Commission, he served as Assistant Attorney General in the Litigation Bureau of the New York State Office of the Attorney General, a position he held from 2005 to 2007.
Mr. Benger began his legal career as an associate at a top U.S. law firm and served as a law clerk to the Hon. Nicholas G. Garaufis of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, before moving to another leading firm. Mr. Benger earned his J.D., summa cum laude, in 2001 from St. John’s University School of Law, where he was a member of the St. John’s Law Review and valedictorian. He received his B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, in 1998 from Brooklyn College. Mr. Benger is fluent in English and Russian.
