Legalign Global alliance member, Wotton + Kearney, is opening its eighth office in Australia’s capital city, Canberra in September 2022.

David Kearney, Wotton + Kearney’s Chief Executive Partner, said: “We have been keen to grow our government and insurance practice to support our clients in Canberra for some time but didn’t want to do so without the right team and leader to spearhead our move. With the arrival of Cath Power, arguably one of the most respected insurance lawyers in Australia, and her team who join us from Sparke Helmore, we are confident we have done just that”.

The firm’s move into Canberra is the latest chapter in its strong Australasian growth story. It follows the recent opening of Wotton + Kearney’s Adelaide office and several recent senior appointments across its Property, Energy & Construction, Financial Lines and General Liability practices and in the specialty lines of Cyber, Marine & Transport and Health.

Wotton + Kearney now has more than 340 dedicated insurance lawyers, including 62 partners, across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Wellington and Auckland. To meet insurers’ needs, the firm also has an active presence in the London and Singapore markets.

We are pleased to announce 25 lawyer promotions in Australia and New Zealand, including five new partners, two special counsel and 13 senior associates, effective 1 July 2022.

In our 20th year, it is wonderful to see Wotton + Kearney continuing to grow so strongly. The promotion of new partners Cassandra Wills (Brisbane), Patrick Thompson (Sydney), Yen Seah (Melbourne), Ronnie Mok (Brisbane) and Edward Burrell (Sydney) adds to our growth story. We now have 62 partners, including Marie-Clare Elder, Claudine Watson-Kyme, Peter Leman, Caroline Laband and Misha Henaghan, who joined in January 2022.

Cassandra Wills and Patrick Thompson are the latest partners to join our General Liability team.

Cassandra specialises in public liability claims, routinely advising on coverage, liability and recovery prospects under various policies of insurance. She has extensive experience dealing with personal injury and historical abuse claims under both PIPA and the WCRA.

Patrick specialises in public sector litigation and has an extensive background in professional indemnity and public liability claims, including assisting clients to navigate the sensitivities of the abuse claims sector. He acts primarily on behalf of government entities, including police, health, ambulance and child welfare agencies.

Our Financial Lines team is also being boosted with the promotion of Yen Seah and Ronnie Mok.

Yen’s practice focuses on claims arising under directors and officers, professional indemnity, and management liability policies of insurance. She has extensive experience in acting as coverage and monitoring counsel in large-scale, high value litigation, including shareholder class actions.

Ronnie is known for his expertise in professional indemnity, management liability, and directors and officers liability. With broad industry experience, he manages large-scale disputes that often involve multiple parties and stakeholders, and complex liability and quantum issues.

Our Major Loss Property team is being further strengthened with Edward Burrell’s promotion. Edward, who previously worked in-house at a Tier 1 D&C contractor, specialises in coverage advice and claims strategies for mega-losses and other large-scale litigation in the property and construction sectors.

Congratulations also to our other promoted lawyers:

• Special Counsel – Christy Mellifont (Melbourne, Financial Lines) and Karren Mo (Melbourne, Financial Lines).
• Senior Associate – Jessica Chapman (Sydney, Financial Lines), Maddison Fairthorne (Melbourne, General Liability), Isobel Howie (Sydney, General Liability), Lily Kidman (Sydney, General Liability), Petra Kolovos (Melbourne, Financial Lines), David Lucas (Sydney, Property, Energy & Infrastructure), Julia Marchesi (Melbourne, Financial Lines), Connor Molloy (Sydney, General Liability), Sarah Sackville (Sydney, General Liability), Natalie Sinclair (Sydney, General Liability), Jeremy Thomson (Wellington, Financial Lines & General Liability), Vicki Thorpe (Melbourne, General Liability) and Kristyn Winner (Sydney, Property, Energy & Infrastructure).
• Associate – Jemma Callanan (Sydney, General Liability), Kaila Hart (Sydney, Financial Lines), Andrew Salinas (Sydney, Financial Lines), David Smith (Auckland, Financial Lines) and Louis Van Bergen (Perth, General Liability).

To celebrate our 20^th anniversary, Wotton + Kearney is committing to making ‘20 Actions for 20 Years’  that will make the firm a better and more responsible business. The 20 Actions for 20 Years Project promises to create a lasting legacy for the firm in the areas that its people think are most important today – reduced inequality, climate action, mental health and wellness, and social justice.

To identify our areas of focus, we undertook a consultative process using the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of Gender Equality, Reduced Inequalities, Climate Action, and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

“Once we agreed our priorities, we deliberately chose to start work on just a few short-term actions as the project is designed to evolve over a 20-year period. Our first three actions are aimed at getting our own house in order before we move on to external actions,” said David Kearney, Wotton + Kearney’s Chief Executive Partner.

The first three actions involve:

1. reducing inequality and going public with the commitment – this will include signing up to the Equitable Briefing Policy and the Charter for the Advancement of Women, publishing gender-based leadership targets and agreeing a Reconciliation Action Plan,
2. reducing climate impact and going public with the commitment – this will include signing up to Climate Active and publishing emissions targets, and
3. auditing current activities across all four areas of focus to create a baseline from which to measure the impact of the 20 activities.

David Kearney added: “Understanding where we are now and ‘going public’ with our intentions are important because we want to be held accountable for our role in fostering equality, reducing climate impact, and improving wellbeing and social justice over time. That means we need to be able to factually report on our progress – to our people, to our clients, to industry bodies and to the communities we operate within.”

Contribution to community is a way of life at Wotton + Kearney. Over the coming years many of the 20 Actions will likely form part of the firm’s pro bono and responsible business program – Community Footprint. More information about Wotton + Kearney’s commitment to achieving positive change and sustainable growth, and being a responsible business, can be viewed in the video below.