As a seasoned litigator and experienced trial attorney, Rachel Keen guides clients in high-stakes complex business disputes, construction and insurance claims, and commercial tort actions.
Rachel has defended product manufacturers, general contractors and subcontractors in a wide variety of complex litigation. She has significant experience in claims involving construction design and defect, water intrusion, and structural failure.
As the leader of Womble Bond Dickinson’s Insurance Sector Team, Rachel’s guidance to insurance companies includes liability and coverage disputes involving a wide range of policies and products. She has extensive experience in guiding insurers in bad faith and extra-contractual liability defense.
Rachel’s litigation experience ranges from lead counsel at trial to manager of attorney and paralegal trial preparation teams. Rachel advocates that the strongest team includes people from different backgrounds. She is a developer of people and is passionately committed to diversity and inclusion, which is reflected in her teams.
Clients who hire Rachel know they are getting a knowledgeable advisor, one who will continuously work to understand their company to give advice tailored to their needs. Rachel’s clients also know they are partnering with an attorney who is as comfortable in court as she is in leveraging litigation for successful settlement negotiation.
Professional Activities
- American Bar Association (Tort Trial & Insurance Practice and Construction Industry)
- Defense Research Institute (Women in the Law and Construction)
- North Carolina Bar Association
- Forsyth County Bar Association
- North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys
Honors and Awards
- Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America (BL Rankings), Construction Law, 2023 - Present
- The Constance McVey Youth Empowerment Support Services Award for Outstanding Commitment and Support of Youth in Forsyth County, 2005
- Womble Carlyle Pro Bono Champion, 2008
- North Carolina Super Lawyers Rising Star, 2011
- Triad Business Journal 40 Leaders Under Forty Award, 2013
Presentations
Business Interruption Insurance Coverage, Womble Bond Dickinson's Everything from Everywhere Virtual Summit, January 29, 2021
Experience
Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
- Led team to complete defense verdict following a three-week state court trial for a national retail chain against Plaintiffs, who sought $13 million for an alleged personal injury.
- Represented The D.H. Griffin Companies, a group of privately owned and integrated companies providing contract demolition, environmental, and site development services to public and private sector entities domestically and internationally, in a six-day arbitration victory.
- Led team in victory for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company in a multi-million-dollar bad faith case. This insurance company denied a claim for damage to a restaurant caused by a fire because it believed one of the owners set the fire. Arson is very difficult to prove, but Rachel and her team secured a successful outcome for her client.
- Won appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on behalf of the Randolph County (NC) Sheriff's Office in a highly publicized wrongful death lawsuit.
- Member of defense teams that earned jury trial victories in Florida on behalf of tobacco companies in "Engle progeny" litigation.
