Find Lawyers in Brisbane, 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).
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Scott practises as an insurance and litigation lawyer and was admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2002. He joined Meridian Lawyers in late 2010, relocating to open the firm’s Brisbane office in October 2012. Throughout his career Scott has accumulated a wealth of experience in health and public and product liability claims in Victoria and Queensland. His interest and expertise has focussed on acting for nearly every category of health professional registered under the National ...
Paul has over 20 years' experience in insurance and commercial litigation. In particular his practice focuses on personal injury and property liability claims under common law and statutory schemes as well as marine and transport industry litigation. Paul also specialises in indemnity disputes, fraud claims, statutory prosecution defence and recoveries. Paul advises various major national and international insurers, large corporate insureds, transport operators and government departments. He ...
Stacey has over 15 years’ post admission experience in the area of defendant insurance and personal injuries law. Her experience includes the defence of workers’ compensation, public and product liability matters with a particular focus on proactive claims management in the workers’ compensation area. She has extensive experience in representing clients at compulsory conferences, informal conferences and mediation. Stacey works closely with brokers, claims managers, underwri...
Nick’s experience spans a broad range of litigation and alternative dispute resolution processes across various state and federal courts and tribunals. Nick has a thorough understanding of the drivers of the successful resolution of complex litigation. Having held senior in house and private practice roles he appreciates the need for legal and technical excellence to be guided by the desired commercial outcome. The foundation of optimal outcomes has its foundation in a cohesive and coll...
Drew has over 20 years’ experience as an insurance and commercial litigation lawyer. His area of focus has been the defence of professional negligence claims, directors' and officers' claims and medical malpractice. His commercial dispute practice includes shareholder, partnership and joint venture disputes, domestic and commercial building disputes, injunctive and declaratory relief and administrative law. Drew advises on risk management for professional service firms. Drew has been re...
Daniel is highly regarded for his insurance litigation expertise, specifically in relation to medical negligence, health law, public liability and professional indemnity claims. Daniel and his health team are one of the most specialised in Queensland, regularly defending major catastrophic medical liability claims for healthcare practitioners and medical facilities such as obstetric claims, neurosurgical incidents, and alleged misdiagnosis of various conditions such as cancer. He defends the ...
Anna is a Partner in HopgoodGanim Lawyers' Insurance practice who advises exclusively in insurance litigation, acting on behalf of major public liability insurers, workers’ compensation insurers and self-insurers, compulsory third party insurers and professional indemnity insurers. Anna has been a WorkCover Queensland panel solicitor since September 2011 and was an approved delegate solicitor from 2008. In her capacity as a panel solicitor, Anna is involved in all stages of the Pre-proc...
Kiley is a specialist insurance and construction lawyer with 20 years’ experience resolving disputes on behalf of local and UK-based insurers and private companies as well as front-end contract negotiation. Kiley is passionate about driving change at all levels so, in addition to her practice, she recently became a member of Sparke Helmore’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She is an advocate for bringing your “whole self” to work—with a long history in the dis...
Brooke is an established defendant insurance lawyer with over 15 years experience including general and commercial insurance, workers’ compensation, product and public liability, motor vehicle and professional indemnity. She is an experienced advisor, advocate and negotiator, who provides tailored advice and is actively involved in the insurance industry. Over the years Brooke has worked for a broad range of insurers and insureds. Her diverse claims portfolio covers workplace, construct...
Terry has over 25 years' insurance litigation experience, with his past 20 years focused predominantly on advising underwriters and self-insurers in the defence of damages claims for personal injuries, property damage and financial loss. Terry has an in-depth understanding of and expertise in the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 , The Civil Liability Act 2003 and the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 . In the 2018 Doyle's Guide , Terry was recognised as leading def...
Jacinta has extensive expertise in commercial and insurance-related litigated matters having practised exclusively in these areas for over 20 years. She represents national and international insurers, insureds, and large corporate self-insureds. Jacinta specialises in the defence of all classes of liability including complex product, catastrophic public and property liability matters as well as personal injury and professional indemnity matters. She holds panel appointments with national and ...
Yvette is an Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law with more than 17 years' experience in the insurance industry. She has practised predominantly in defending statutory classes, common law and general insurance claims since 1996. She also regularly advises on liability issues. What she does Yvette advises clients on complex statutory and liability claims, property recovery claims, multiple party actions, indemnity and quantum issues, scheme-sensitive matters and complex litigation. She...
With over 25 years of experience, Matthew specialises in commercial litigation and dispute resolution defending directors and companies, advising on professional indemnity claims for a wide range of professionals and acting as privacy and coverage counsel in relation to cyber risks and data surveillance. Matthew acts for Australian and international clients involved with the insurance and reinsurance sector including insurance companies, brokers and insureds. He has experience in all areas of...
Mark is an experienced defendant insurance lawyer who has acted for insured and insurer clients for the duration of his career. Mark's experience spans defending both professional indemnity and public liability claims across a variety of industries, with particular focus on defending claims arising from within the legal, financial, construction and medical arenas. What he does As a result of managing the defence of claims from cradle to grave across multiple lines and industries, Mark has rec...
Kelli has extensive experience in insurance, product liability, public liability and workers’ compensation having acted for more than 30 years on behalf of insurers (both domestic and international), corporations, government bodies and instrumentalities. In the insurance area she has vast experience in acting on liability claims, particularly product liability, public liability and workers’ compensation. She has appeared before courts, regulatory bodies, inquiries and coronial inq...
Sean has practised in insurance litigation since 1992, acting on behalf of defendant insurers and self insured across the CTP, workers' compensation and public liability regimes. This has included providing advices on the interpretation of legislation and policy submissions on the strategic operation of schemes. Sean has also advised employers in respect of reviews of decisions by the Workers’ Compensation Regulator, and conducting and defending appeals challenging decisions under the Q...
An accomplished lawyer with more than 25 years' experience as a litigator, Michelle specialises in maritime and transport law. Michelle features as a leading shipping and transport practitioner in Chambers, Legal 500, Doyle’s and Best Lawyers. She is also very active in the maritime and transport industries including being the Vice President of the Maritime Law Association of Australia and New Zealand (MLAANZ) and on the Executive of Australian Maritime and Transport Arbitration Commiss...
Greg Whyte leads the Dispute Resolution & Litigation team in Brisbane. He specialises in managing complex litigation and disputes, with an emphasis on corporate disputes, class actions and professional negligence. He represents clients in all Australian Jurisdictions. Greg works regularly with litigation funders and is very experienced in the structuring and conduct of externally funded litigation. Greg has been involved in the development of a number of significant claims including Austr...
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