Insights
We are delighted to announce that our Canadian alliance member firm, Alexander Holburn, is celebrating the news that 24 of their lawyers have received 31 rankings across 15 practice areas in the 2024 edition of Best Lawyers in Canada.
Congratulations to Mary Hamilton, K.C. who was named “Lawyer of the Year” for Trusts and Estates in Vancouver for the fourth time.
Equally, congratulations to David Garner (Corporate and Commercial Litigation), Ryan Howe (Mergers and Acquisitions) and Jeremy Poole (Insurance Law) for being newly recognized this year.
Congratulations to all recognised lawyers:
(*) Lawyers listed for the first time in Best Lawyers in Canada.
Aviation Law
Construction Law
Corporate and Commercial Litigation
Corporate Law
Family Law
Franchise Law
Insurance Law
- Hollis Bromley, Partner
- Todd R. Davies, Partner
- Bruno De Vita, K.C., Partner
- Sunjeet S. Deol, Partner
- Laura M. Hanson, Partner
- Judi P. Kennedy, Partner
- David T. McKnight, Partner
- Robert M. McLennan, Partner
- Jeremy Poole, Partner *
Maritime Law
Medical Negligence
Mergers and Acquisitions Law
Personal Injury Litigation
Privacy and Data Security Law
Real Estate Law
Securities Law
Trusts and Estates
Wotton + Kearney has appointed two new partners, Chantal van Grieken, a highly regarded general liability practitioner, and Sian Gilbert, an EPL Accredited Specialist. Chantal and Sian, who were formerly with HWL Ebsworth, will join the firm on 1 February 2021.
Chantal is known for her expertise in the areas of public liability, workers actions, statutory third party recoveries, property damage and product liability. She has broad industry experience acting for both local and international insurers, and advises shopping centre owners/managers, REITs, manufacturers and construction and engineering companies in this capacity. She also advises manufacturers and other parties in the product supply chain on product recalls and associated claims.
Chantal said: “I’m excited to be joining Wotton + Kearney’s General Liability Team. I’m looking forward to being part of a firm that has such a clear vision for future growth, strong collaborative practices and a people first culture.”
Sian is an Accredited Specialist in Employment and Industrial Relations who is particularly known for her high level of technical skills, efficiency and strong client relationships. She advises insurers, financial institutions and government employers on EPL matters, spanning WHS prosecutions, coronial inquiries, general protections disputes, sexual harassment claims and unfair dismissals. She also advises on contract and management disputes, including applications for injunctive relief over contractual restraints.
“Wotton + Kearney has an outstanding market reputation due to the calibre of its team and its singular focus on insurance. I’m delighted to be joining the team,” Sian added.
“Both Chantal and Sian are known for their high quality legal advice, pragmatic approach and strong client relationships. We’re delighted they are joining Wotton + Kearney as they will be a great addition to our national General Liability and EPL teams and share our commitment to providing outstanding service to the insurance market. As W+K is a firm committed to improving diversity and inclusion in our industry, we’re also pleased that their arrival will further boost female representation in our partner ranks,” said David Kearney, Wotton + Kearney’s Chief Executive Partner.
You can view their full profiles at the links below.
Chantal van Grieken – Partner, General Liability
Sian Gilbert – Partner, Work Health & Safety/EPL
Last year, vulnerable members of our communities needed more help than ever before. Through our Pro Bono and Responsible Business program, Community Footprint, W+K was able to help people experiencing homelessness, refugees and people seeking asylum, people experiencing domestic violence, and the elderly.
Our Community Footprint program is a core part of who we are, how we do business and how we give back to our communities.
The Community Footprint FY2020 Report highlights many of the impactful ways we contributed to our communities during a very challenging year, including:
- extending our partnership with the Black Dog Institute to help address mental health issues
- contributing more than 3,000 pro bono and community hours
- running 9 pro bono clinics, including remote offerings
- providing two pro bono secondments and hosting three pro bono interns
- providing financial support to 15 charity partners
- donating goods and other essential items, and
- making ‘kindness calls’.
Our plans for 2021 are even more ambitious and include a W+K team trekking the Larapinta Trail with the goal of raising more than $100,000 for the Black Dog Institute and improving mental health. If you’d like to know more about our Community Footprint program, please get in touch.
You can view a short video overview of the report below or read the full report here or at the button below.
Wotton + Kearney is pleased to provide our 2021 Insurance Predictions Report, looking at the major trends and issues we expect will remain in the spotlight for the insurance industry in our region this year.
It’s no surprise that this report addresses some of the horizon issues that we expect to face in the wake of COVID-19, ranging from pandemic-related mould and legionella risks to class action exposures.
We look at the way many longer-standing issues continue to evolve, including corporate governance exposures, litigation funding, the impact of climate risks, the rising stakes around cyber security, and increasing levels of regulatory pressure.
We also consider emerging issues, such as the real likelihood of a local sports injury class action, the constantly expanding circumstances behind mental health injury claims and the complex coverage questions raised given the potential application of multiple policy periods.
This publication features predictions made by senior lawyers from Wotton + Kearney’s Australian and New Zealand offices, which have been grouped and categorised by major product lines for your convenience.
You can also view more than 140 global predictions on the Informed Insurance microsite hosted by our Legalign Global colleagues, DAC Beachcroft, with contributions from all five Legalign Global alliance firms.
I hope you enjoy reading our latest predictions report. Our team of insurance specialists are available to discuss any of these issues with you.
David Kearney
Chief Executive Partner
Welcome to Wotton + Kearney’s NZ Insurance Market Trends Update, our biannual snapshot of legal trends and developments impacting claims managers, underwriters, brokers and corporates operating in the New Zealand market.
In this edition, we look at the impact of recent matters in the areas of D&O claims, representative actions and EPL. We provide updates on longer-standing issues, such as exclusions in construction defect claims, and increased levels of regulatory pressure adding to professional indemnity risks.
We also look at some emerging trends, such as the employment claims falling out of the pandemic, the need to navigate the new Privacy Act and mandatory reporting requirements for cyber incidents, and new regulatory pressures on the medico-legal sector.
If you have any queries about any of these emerging issues or would like to know more, please get in touch with our authors or key contacts. You can read the full update at the link below or directly download a PDF here.
Antony Holden
Managing Partner – New Zealand
A recent case note from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner highlights how failures to keep personal information up-to-date, and to act on requests to update information, can lead to privacy exposures.
In this short article, Wotton + Kearney’s Mark Anderson, Joseph Fitzgerald and Johnson Zhuang look at the issues raised and ways to manage similar risks.
Click on the download below to read the full update.
Congratulations to Natasha Cannon, Senior Associate in Wotton + Kearney’s Wellington office, who has been named in NZ Lawyer’s 2021 Rising Stars Report released today. The Rising Stars Report recognises excellence in young lawyers in New Zealand — those who are showing signs of becoming the industry’s future leaders.
Natasha was also recently recognised by a client in The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific who said: “A rising star of the firm is senior associate Natasha Cannon who has assisted us often in the real estate space and is approachable, offering practical solutions for resolution.”
Natasha has previously worked for international firms in both Australia and London. She specialises in professional liability, product liability, subrogated recoveries and general liability. She is also experienced in high value and complex litigation, including in the design and construction space, as well as disciplinary proceedings.
“Natasha is a thorough litigator with excellent written and oral advocacy skills. She is committed to our clients and has a great eye for identifying the strategy that will obtain the right result for them. I’m delighted to see her acknowledged in this way for her outstanding legal work, as well as her contribution to the firm and the wider sector,” said Antony Holden, Managing Partner of Wotton + Kearney in New Zealand.
You can read more on the 2021 Rising Star Report here.
Wotton + Kearney is pleased to have 23 senior lawyers featured in the 2022 edition of Best Lawyers Australia and New Zealand. We received 35 listings in total across a range of insurance law and litigation categories. Recognition in Best Lawyers is based on peer review and feedback from leading lawyers on the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same legal practice and location. Our full listing is below. Congratulations to you all.
Recognised Lawyers – Australia & New Zealand
Auckland
- Mark Anderson – Privacy and Data Security law
- Aimee Credin – Insurance Law, Litigation
- Sophie Lucas – Insurance Law
- Rebecca Scott – Insurance Law
Brisbane
- Raisa Conchin – Insurance Law, Professional Malpractice Litigation
- Paul Spezza – Personal Injury Litigation
- Brooke Jacobs – Insurance Law
Melbourne
- Andrew Brennan – Insurance Law
- Cain Jackson – Class Action Litigation, Insurance Law, Professional Malpractice Litigation
- Nick Lux – Professional Malpractice Litigation
- Edward O’Brien – Insurance Law
- Andrew Seiter – Personal Injury Litigation
- Robin Shute – Insurance Law, Personal Injury Litigation
Sydney
- Belinda Henningham – Insurance Law, Personal Injury Litigation, Product Liability Litigation
- David Kearney – Insurance Law
- Andrew Moore – Insurance Law, Professional Malpractice Litigation
- Sean O’Connor – Insurance Law, Personal Injury Litigation
- Wes Rose – Insurance law, Professional Malpractice Litigation
- Katie Shanks – Insurance Law
- Charles Simon – Insurance Law, Personal Injury Litigation
Wellington
- Antony Holden – Insurance Law
- Adam Holloway – Accident Compensation Law, Health Care Law
- Sean O’Sullivan – Arbitration and Mediation
To celebrate International Women’s Day 2021, Alexander Holburn, BLD Bach Langheid Dallmayr, DAC Beachcroft, Wilson Elser and Wotton + Kearney have joined together to create a series of daily videos highlighting leading women across our network and their achievements.
You may have seen the videos on LinkedIn which includes our Legalign firm leaders introducing the series on why International Women’s Day is so important. The videos cover a range of themes including women’s involvement in the legal profession, leading through the pandemic, remote working, supporting other women in their careers and how we define success.
Why is International Women’s Day so important? (3:21)
What would you change about women’s involvement in the legal profession? (2:53)
Leading through the pandemic (4:26)
Working remotely (5:12)
Supporting other women (4:18)
Definition of success (3:59)
In the current ranking for 2021, BLD is once again recognized by Chambers Europe as a “stellar insurance practice with a particular focus on defending large national and international insurance companies in litigation”. BLD is the only Band 1-firm in Insurance, Germany.
The renowned independent research company Chambers & Partners particularly highlights BLD’s “insurance regulatory advice, assisting with property, life and health insurance products” as well as the “strong offering in insurtech mandates”. Explicitly mentioned also are the activities including “liability for cyber-attacks and claims arising from industrial damage.”
Clients questioned for the ranking particularly praise the firm’s “great expertise, success rate and particularly customer-oriented approach.” The responsiveness and the lawyers’ cross-border capabilities, which BLD can offer due to their international alliance Legalign Global, are also emphasized.
The BLD Partners Dr. Martin Alexander, LL.M. (“a savvy practitioner”), Dr. Rainer Büsken (“longstanding expertise in the insurance market”), Bastian Finkel (“extensive experience in financial lines insurance issues”), Dr. Joachim Grote (“outstanding”), Björn Seitz (“excellent legal knowledge”), and Counsel Dr. Reinhard Dallmayr (“has long enjoyed a good name in the insurance field”) are again personally ranked in 2021. Our thanks also go to the team of lawyers, assistants and all other employers at BLD, without whom this great achievement would not have been possible.
You can read the full review from Chambers & Partners here (https://chambers.com/department/bld-bach-langheid-dallmayr-insurance-europe-7:33:92:1:129306).
The book, edited by Dr. Theo Langheid, former named partner of BLD Bach Langheid Dallmayr, addresses the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, focussing on aspects of insurance and liability law. Besides editor Dr. Theo Langheid, a total of 14 BLD insurance experts analyse different areas from infection protection to law of obligations to the individual insurance sectors.
Dr. Alexander Beyer | Health Insurance
Dr. Jendrik Böhmer, LL.M. | Process and Backgrounds, Infection Protection Law, Liability Insurance
Christina Eckes | Travel Insurance
Dr. Joachim Grote | Law of Obligations, Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Reinsurance, Insurance Supervision Law and Insurance Company Law
Prof. Dr. Dirk-Carsten Günther | Insurance against Business Interruption
Carsten Hösker, LL.M. | Infection Protection Law, Liability Insurance
Jan Kordes, LL.M. | D&O-Insurance
Dr. Theo Langheid | Laws on General Terms and Conditions
Dr. Tobias Mergner | Aspects of Personal Injury
Dr. Martin Schaaf | Law of Obligations, Life Insurance, Insurance Supervision Law and Insurance Company Law
Björn Seitz | Contingency Insurance
Dr. Thorsten Süß | Health
Dr. Sven-Markus Thiel | Contingency Insurance
Cornelius Maria Thora | Health
Fabian Triesch | Reinsurance
For further information on the new publication, please click here >>
Informed Insurance
The home of fresh thinking about key insurance topics by subject matter experts from around the world.
Thought leadership
We curate our thought leadership around the insurance topics that matter most.
Predictions
We anticipate issues and opportunities for clients and share our future-focused insights in this annual report.
Themes
Our themes highlight key issues for the insurance sector, from class actions to technology.