Financial Lines team chair John McCarrick authored a guest post titled “When D&O Advancement Becomes a Blank Check” published on The D&O Diary on July 16, 2026. In the article, John examines the potential pitfalls of broadly drafted D&O advancement provisions; analyzes how mandatory advancement obligations can require companies to fund significant legal defense costs, even when those costs are disputed; offers historical insight into the many changes that have impacted D&O advancement indemnification; and how a recent high-profile dispute involving former JPMorgan executives illustrates the issues at hand.

“Advancement rights developed to solve a real governance problem: capable directors and officers needed assurance that corporate service would not expose them to ruinous defense costs,” writes John. “When advancement rights are drafted broadly and without meaningful conditions, courts may enforce them as written even where the resulting defense spend is extraordinary. The drafting lesson is not that advancement should be narrow in every case. It is that companies and acquirers should decide in advance how broad the obligation should be and put any limits in the governing documents before a dispute arises.”

To read the post, click here.