Rachel began working at Beasley Allen in 2014 as a second-year law student and continued working through her third year as a law clerk in the Consumer Fraud Section. After graduating law school and passing the bar exam, she began working full time as an attorney in the Consumer Fraud Section, handling class actions, antitrust issues, insurance claims and Medicaid fraud litigation.
Background
Rachel is originally from central Illinois but now lives in Montgomery, Alabama, with her husband and their dogs.
Notable Cases
Rachel served as co-lead counsel in a class action that resulted in a $28 million settlement agreement between US Financial Life Insurance Company and a class of nearly 12,000 policyholders. The class alleged the insurer improperly increased the cost of insurance (COI) charges on certain universal life products beginning in 2015.
She was part of the team that recently secured a $38.2 million settlement for a settlement class consisting of more than 10,750 policyholders of Banner Life Insurance Co. and William Penn Life Insurance Co. universal life insurance policies. The Plaintiffs in these class actions alleged that the companies unjustifiably increased the cost of insurance charges on the policies. Rachel’s practice continues to focus on insurance cases, including cases involving unfounded cost of insurance increases.
After the lone objector to the settlement appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, Rachel was part of the team that successfully obtained a published opinion in which the Fourth Circuit, for the first time, clarified the burden placed on a class member objecting to a settlement. Applying this standard to the settlement before it, the Fourth Circuit upheld the settlement as fair, reasonable, and adequate for all class members, notwithstanding the lone objector’s arguments. The case is 1988 Tr. for Allen Child. Dated 8/8/88 v. Banner Life Ins. Co., 28 F.4th 513 (4th Cir. 2022).
Additionally, Rachel worked with the Kentucky Attorney General’s office and helped secure a $10.3 million settlement in its case against Fresenius Medical Care Holdings Inc., a Massachusetts-based dialysis company, for Medicaid fraud.
Professional Associations
Rachel is a member of the Illinois State Bar, the American Association for Justice, Federal Bar Association, Women in eDiscovery, Phi Alpha Delta International Law Fraternity, Psi Chi International Honor Society in psychology, Pi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society and the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Animal Law Program. Rachel also serves as President of the Board of Directors for The Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum and is an active member in the Junior League of Montgomery.
Awards and Recognitions
The National Trial Lawyers organization has named Rachel a “Top 40 Under 40” lawyer. The designation is “extended solely to the select few of the most qualified attorneys from each state who demonstrate superior qualifications of leadership, reputation, influence, stature and public profile measured by objective and uniformly applied standards.”
Education
Rachel graduated cum laude from the University of Illinois Springfield in May 2012 with a B.A. in political science and psychology. She then earned her J.D. from Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, graduating summa cum laude in 2015. While at Jones, she was a Walter J. Knabe Scholar, a Senior Editor of Jones Law Review, a Dean’s Fellow and a teaching assistant. She also received 10 Best Paper awards in various courses.
Rachel was president of the Student Animal Legal Defense fund, and coordinated multiple fundraisers and events that raised nearly $3,000 for local animal rescue organizations. She also was a member of the Jones Public Interest Law Foundation and Board of Advocates.
As a member of the Board of Advocates, Rachel was a Best Brief Finalist in the Faulkner Law 1L Moot Court Tournament in 2013; had the Fourth Best Brief at the Mercer Legal Ethics and Professionalism Competition in 2013, where she finished as a National Finalist; and won Best Petitioner Brief and was a National Semifinalist at the August A. Rendigs National Products Liability Competition in 2014.
Upon her graduation from Jones, Rachel was presented with the Advocacy Award in recognition of her academic achievement and for “best exemplifying the purpose and philosophy of Thomas Goode Jones School of Law.”
