Upward Risk Management (URM) was founded on the principle that effective insurance brokerage requires a thorough understanding of the legal, financial, and contractual risks that insurance is intended to address.
Our perspective was shaped by experience in insurance coverage law, claims disputes, and the placement of complex insurance programs for sophisticated organizations. That experience revealed a recurring problem: insurance policies can appear comprehensive at placement, yet respond very differently when subjected to actual claims, litigation, or regulatory scrutiny.
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URM was established to bring that perspective directly into the brokerage process.
Today, URM operates as an independent, attorney-led insurance brokerage advising businesses on management liability, professional liability, contractual liability insurance, captive insurance, and alternative risk-transfer structures.
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Our work frequently involves exposures that do not fit neatly within standardized insurance products. Whether negotiating manuscript policy language, structuring insurance-backed contractual obligations, or addressing complex management and professional liability risks, we approach insurance as both a legal contract and a financial risk-transfer mechanism.
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Our objective is not simply to obtain insurance coverage. It is to help clients understand how their insurance programs are structured, where potential gaps exist, and how coverage can be designed to respond to their actual exposures.
Management Liability & Professional Risk
We advise businesses, financial institutions, investment funds, and their leadership on management and professional liability exposures, including:
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Directors & Officers (D&O) Liability
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Employment Practices Liability (EPL)
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Professional Liability and Errors & Omissions (E&O)
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Technology E&O and Cyber Liability
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Fiduciary Liability
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Crime and Financial Institution Coverage
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Our work includes evaluating coverage restrictions, negotiating policy language, structuring layered insurance programs, and addressing complex contractual insurance requirements.
Contractual Liability Insurance & Warranty Programs
URM develops insurance solutions supporting contractual guarantees, warranties, service contracts, and other defined commercial obligations.
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Our capabilities include Contractual Liability Insurance Policies (CLIPs), insurance-backed warranty programs, service contract reimbursement structures, and manuscript risk-transfer arrangements.
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These programs often require coordination among insurers, obligors, administrators, manufacturers, distributors, and other stakeholders to align contractual responsibilities with insurance protection.
Captive Insurance & Alternative Risk Transfer
For organizations whose risks cannot be efficiently addressed through conventional insurance markets, URM evaluates alternative structures, including captive insurance, fronted programs, reinsurance participation, and customized risk-transfer arrangements.
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These solutions can provide greater flexibility in program design, risk retention, and the allocation of financial responsibilities between insureds, insurers, and other participants.
We believe insurance programs should be designed around the client's actual exposures rather than the limitations of a standardized insurance application.
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Our process begins with an examination of the organization's business model, contractual obligations, regulatory environment, and potential sources of financial loss.
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From there, we evaluate available insurance structures, identify potential coverage gaps, and negotiate terms intended to address the exposures that matter most.
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Particular attention is paid to policy definitions, exclusions, conditions, retentions, endorsements, and the interaction between multiple insurance policies.
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This approach reflects a central principle of our practice: the true value of an insurance program is determined not at placement, but by how it responds when coverage is needed.
Steven Barge-Siever, Esq.
Founder & CEO
Upward Risk Management
Steven Barge-Siever is a corporate attorney licensed in California and New York, insurance executive, and Founder and CEO of Upward Risk Management. With nearly two decades of experience, he specializes in complex insurance coverage, management and professional liability, contractual liability, and alternative risk transfer.
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Steven has built his career advising companies on sophisticated insurance and risk-financing challenges, from traditional corporate liability exposures to complex contractual obligations requiring entirely new insurance solutions. His work spans emerging technology companies, financial institutions, private equity and venture capital firms, manufacturers, and large public corporations.
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A significant focus of Steven's practice is the development of Contractual Liability Insurance Policies (CLIPs), insurance-backed warranty programs, captive insurance structures, and fronting and reinsurance arrangements. He works with companies to design insurance solutions for contractual guarantees, warranties, service contracts, performance commitments, and other obligations that fall outside the scope of conventional insurance. These structures can do more than transfer risk - they can enable new business models, support product innovation, strengthen financial guarantees, and create opportunities for companies to retain and participate in the economics of their own risk.
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Steven also brings extensive experience in management and professional liability, including directors and officers (D&O) liability, technology E&O, cyber, investment management liability, employment practices liability, crime, and fiduciary liability. He has advised companies through IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, financings, and other significant corporate transactions, structuring insurance programs to address complex exposures and protect organizations and their leadership.
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Before founding Upward Risk Management, Steven held senior brokerage and insurance leadership positions at Aon, Willis Towers Watson, Vouch Insurance, EPIC, and Brown & Brown. He began his career practicing insurance coverage and claims law and holds an MBA in Finance.
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His background in law, insurance, and finance provides a distinct perspective on risk transfer. Rather than approaching complex risks through the limitations of existing insurance products, Steven evaluates the underlying legal obligations, financial exposures, and business objectives to develop coverage and risk-financing structures tailored to each client's needs.