Best Lawyers Near You in Sydney, Australia for Insurance Law
Practice Area Overview
Insurance is a wide practice area covering a range of insurance policies, industry sectors, and areas of legal expertise.
Specialist insurance lawyers typically act on behalf of insurers in the investigation and defence of claims made against parties who hold insurance policies, and/or in providing related coverage advice as to whether the relevant insurance policy (or policies, in the case of dual insurance) responds to those claims.
Where coverage advice is required, some insurers prefer to split the role of ‘defence’ and ‘coverage’ counsel, while others will engage lawyers to perform a dual role. In the event of a coverage dispute (and therefore a conflict of interests) between the insurer and insured, separate representation is required to ensure a timely identification of the relevant issues and resolution of the dispute.
The types of policy vary widely, including for example Professional Indemnity, Medical Malpractice, Directors’ and Officers’ Liability, Management Liability, Employment Practices Liability, Statutory Liability, Cyber Risks, Crime, General (Public and Product Liability), Aviation, various Broadform policies covering a range of risks, and various policies relevant to the construction industry, such as Contract Works.
Within each class of policy are a number of sub-specialities. For example, Professional Indemnity policies are issued to accountants, barristers, doctors, engineers, financial advisers, mortgage brokers, real estate agents solicitors, valuers, and many more.
With such a broad range of policies, lawyers advising in this area require a detailed understanding of the industries in which they practice and the relevant legislation, in addition to expertise in insurance law (for example, Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth)), contract law, tort (primarily negligence), and the Australian Consumer Law, and of legal practice and procedure in State and Federal jurisdictions.
Industry expertise will include a thorough knowledge of the relevant disciplines involved in the underlying conduct or transaction giving rise to the claim, to advise on the technical issues arising in the context of the applicable legal framework. This will ensure the ability to quickly identify the relevant issues and the most appropriate resolution strategy, whether by way of an early compromise, alternative dispute resolution or court proceedings and a trial.
The commercial discipline for any insurance lawyer is to be able to distil often complex technical and legal issues as quickly as possible, to enable the most appropriate resolution to be identified and achieved as cost effectively as possible for the benefit of all the interested stakeholders (insurers, insureds, and intermediaries).
Select a location from the list below to find the best legal talent for your needs.
Michael is highly regarded for his corporate and commercial law expertise with a particular focus on financial services, insurance, reinsurance, capital markets, health and medical defence mutuals. Michael advises insurers, futures and commodities dealers, non-bank financial institutions, broking houses, health funds, health and medical service providers, medical defence mutuals, medical indemnity insurers and reinsurers. He regularly deals with regulators such as ASIC, APRA, Treasury, ASX an...
Melissa Fenton is a partner in the insurance team at Colin Biggers & Paisley. Melissa has been a litigation lawyer for over 20 years and has extensive experience in litigation and dispute resolution, professional indemnity and general liability claims acting for insurers and professionals in a variety of different fields. Melissa has experience in defending both large scale litigation and small claim matters, acting for an array of professionals, including architects, engineers, surveyors...
Michael is generally recognised as a leading insurance silk taking briefs to advise and appear in all Australian jurisdictions. He has broad experience of all major classes of insurance and reinsurance, with particular expertise in financial lines, general liability, property and business interruption claims. His advisory practice includes advising many leading brokers and insurers that service Australian markets. He is known for his depth of understanding of major classes of insurance and hi...
Lindsay is a market leading practitioner and legal literary author, with more than 40 years' industry experience. He specialises in professional indemnity with a focus on valuers, construction and property. Lindsay has practised in the London market since 1983, becoming one of the most high profile Australian lawyers to practise in this market. He has co-authored the second edition of Valuers' Liability and was the principal author of the Risk Management Module produced for the Australian Pro...
Simon is a highly experienced litigator, having practiced for over 27 years in the CTP, workers' compensation, recovery and liability jurisdictions. He is a partner in the NSW Statutory Insurance team which acts for major insurers and self-insurers in the defence of workers' compensation claims, work injury damages claims, motor accident and public liability claims. Simon has been appointed a District Court Arbitrator, is an Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law and is an active member...
Zara has practised insurance law and litigation in NSW for over 20 years. Before joining Holman Webb as Special Counsel in 2010 Zara was Special Counsel at Henry Davis York. Zara is experienced in a broad range of insurance practice areas including medical negligence, coronial inquiries, administrative review and disciplinary proceedings, injury liability, property and commercial claims, marine insurance and defamation. Her current focus is in professional indemnity, medical negligence and di...
Rhett is Hall & Wilcox's National Insurance Practice Head and is responsible for the driving and coordinating the strategy for the firm’s national insurance practice, comprising 35 partners and over 150 insurance lawyers across Australia. Rhett has over 25 years’ experience acting for the major insurers, claims administrators, self-insurers, government agencies and statutory schemes. He also has longstanding relationships with the broking community, industry peak bodies and ot...
Nicholas is a highly experienced lawyer who has concentrated on insurance law, particularly claims under the NSW statutory classes of insurance, for more than 20 years. He is the service line leader for our NSW workers' compensation practice. Nicholas advises insurers on the management of claims and liability disputes and helps them to develop and implement strategies to respond to these issues. He regularly appears in the NSW Workers Compensation Commission, District Court and Supreme Courts...
John has over 20 years’ experience as a litigator specialising in all areas of insurance and has managed a significant number of large litigated matters. John is an Accredited Specialist in Commercial Litigation (Insurance) and leads our insurance team. He has acted in matters in all States of Australia. John is an experienced advocate, regularly appearing for clients in court and participates in alternative dispute resolution programs in those matters identified as unsuitable for litig...
Nicholas has a broad commercial and public law practice. He is regularly briefed in class actions, with his expertise also extending to a range of private law claims, including disputes concerning commercial contracts, unjust enrichment, professional and medical negligence and intentional torts. As a solicitor, Nicholas worked at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in International Arbitration and at King & Wood Mallesons and HWL Ebsworth in commercial litigation. In 2014 Nicholas was Tips...
Chanel is an experienced litigator and negotiator, specialising in defence of national liability disputes across the casualty, catastrophic injury, and property space. She has extensive experience acting behalf of public liability insurers, their insureds, corporate insureds, and public authorities including local councils. It is through the total understanding of the insurer and the insured’s business that she can tailor and deliver enhanced services, including efficient claims outcome...
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