Insurance
Rhett Slocombe
Partner and Insurance National Practice Leader
Tim Ainsworth
Tim practices in the area of New South Wales statutory workers compensation and modified common law damages for workers.
Tim acts for self insured employers and employers’ insurers. He assists clients across a broad range of industries, including: banking; transport; labour hire; logistics; retail and insurance. Tim acts for the Workers Compensation Nominal Insurer for both insured risks and for claims against uninsured employers.
Tim presents regularly to his clients and colleagues, through the College of Law, on a variety of topics associated with statutory workers compensation and work injury damages. Tim’s past experience working in the insurance industry and for injured workers allows him to bring a balanced and considered viewpoint to his advice and presentations.
Experience
Advising various clients in sensitive litigated and un-litigated claims relating to injuries and death in compensable circumstances. This includes successfully managing the legal argument and outcomes, while acting in a manner consistent with clients’ concerns as to the sensitive nature of those claims.
Advising self-insurers in relation to organisational issues, licencing best practice, reinsurance and claims management as well as acting on behalf of those clients in litigated and non-litigated disputes. This includes providing legal advice that incorporates pragmatism drawn from knowledge of clients’ businesses and experience in the insurance industry.
Angela Brookes
Angela has significant experience in workers’ compensation, product liability and public liability matters. She acts on behalf of state, national and international insurers, self-insurers, and Australian and international corporations. Angela also drafts codes of practice and occupational health and safety policies for large organisations. Angela provides advice, appears at conferences and in court on a wide range of matters, with particular experience in workers’ compensation mining claims.
Angela also has a major focus in product liability litigation and acts as the national lawyer for a number of international corporations in relation to claims brought under the Australian Consumer Law and with respect to product liability. Angela has prepared and presented to numerous national and international clients and organisations on workers' compensation and product liability law.
Liam Campion
Liam is an accomplished litigator and advocate, with an exceptional track record in obtaining successful outcomes for his insurer clients.
Liam specialises in coverage disputes and subrogated property recoveries, including in mass tort bushfire litigation. Liam acts across a broad spectrum of subrogated recoveries, including tortious claims in negligence, nuisance, and deceit, as well as contractual claims and claims made under statute including the Australian Consumer Law, the Building Act 1993 (Vic) and the Water Act 1989 (Vic). Liam practices across several jurisdictions, and has experience in the High Court of Australia, the Federal Court and the Supreme Courts of Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales, as well as lower courts throughout the country.
Liam is trusted and respected by his clients for his ability to absorb complex technical evidence and voluminous documentation in a highly efficient manner. His strategic decision-making and ability to focus on ‘signal’ rather than ‘noise’ is fundamental in ensuring disputes are managed in an efficient and focused manner. It is this aptitude that has enabled Liam to develop a practice with a specific focus on mass tort, large loss and complex litigation.
Drew Castley
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 recognised in The Best Lawyers in Australia in Insurance Law, Litigation and Professional Malpractice Litigation every year since 2011 and he has been additionally listed for Ethics and Professional Responsibility Practice since 2019. He is listed as a preeminent professional indemnity lawyer in Queensland in Doyle's Guide to the Australian Legal Profession.
He is an associate of the Australian Property Institute, a member of the Australian Professional Indemnity Group and a committee member of the Queensland chapter of the Australian Insurance Law Association
Sauming Chan
Sauming is an insurance litigation specialist and advises insurers and government departments and entities in defence of personal injury and property damage claims.
Sauming acts in many complex, sensitive and high profile matters for both her insurance and government clients, including catastrophic personal injury claims and coronial inquests. She is highly regarded for her forensic analysis and outcome driven strategies.
With an ingrained understanding of the strategic imperatives of her clients, Sauming has consistently assisted them to deliver on these objectives with her specialist knowledge of the issues unique to them, including funding and resourcing constraints. Through this, Sauming has become a preferred and trusted legal services adviser to insurer and government clients.
David Chew
David is a partner with over 25 years' experience practising as an insurance risk and dispute resolution adviser.
David’s main areas of focus are in executive and professional risks, servicing insurers, their insureds and corporate clients.
He advises on a wide range of complex coverage, liability and loss assessment issues involving claims against private and publicly listed companies, corporate trustees, directors and officers, and a range of professionals across financial services, insurance, legal, construction, public sector and media & technology industries.
He also has a ‘front end’ advisory practice. For primary and excess layer insurers, this includes advising on product development/review, negotiations with intermediaries and responses to royal commissions and regulators. For corporate clients, this includes advising on risk management, insurance coverage and insurance programme negotiations.
David is an exacting lawyer focused on providing clients with commercial and innovative solutions tailored to their needs, taking into account their key drivers and the law. He has been listed a ‘leading/recommended professional indemnity lawyer’ – Victoria, in Doyle’s Guide.
Anastasia Coutsouvelis
Anastasia’s practice focuses on personal injury litigation management and administrative law. Anastasia focuses on achieving quality outcomes for her clients in workers' compensation matters, including statutory benefits and common law claims under the Accident Compensation Act 1985 (Vic) and the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic).
Anastasia has acted for WorkSafe Victoria and its predecessors for a number of years. She was previously employed at the TAC as an Impairment Officer and in its WorkCover Division for a number of years before moving to Allianz Australia in Sydney. Anastasia gained valuable management experience managing a large team of people and driving some significant improvements whilst at Allianz.
Anastasia has made it a priority to understand the strategic imperatives of WorkSafe Victoria, its agents and employers, and to develop a reputation for consistently delivering on these objectives.
Anastasia is a leading Workers' Compensation (Defendant) lawyer in Victoria in Doyle's Guide to the Australian Legal Profession.
Daisy Duff
Daisy has extensive experience within the Common Law Workers’ Compensation area. She has also acted in public liability, medical negligence and CTP cases, and has experience acting in both plaintiff and defence work.
Daisy has a special interest in litigation having conducted a number of trials in the District and Supreme Courts of Queensland, and in the Court of Appeal.
Daisy has a passion for innovation and adoption of technological advancements in the provision of legal services, with a view to drive better outcomes for the firm’s clients. She is instrumental in the refinement of the firm’s precedent suite for her area of practice and the implementation of new Case Management, Workflow and Document Automation systems.
Maree Ferguson
Maree is a specialist insurance lawyer with nearly 20 years’ experience in personal injury and property damage claims. She regularly handles complex, high quantum and sensitive claims including catastrophic personal injury claims and historical abuse claims. She acts for domestic insurers, the WA and NT governments, a number of Lloyd’s and London-based insurers and self-insured public companies.
Maree is highly regarded for her technical advice and proactive and commercial approach to achieving favourable, cost-effective outcomes for her clients.
Ana Forster
Ana’s practice focuses on the litigation of common law and statutory benefits claims brought pursuant to Victorian workers’ compensation legislation. Ana’s particular areas of interest are damages claims and claims for psychiatric injury.
Ana acts for WorkSafe Victoria, self-insurers, agents and employers to defend claims relating to injuries arising out of employment.
Prior to joining Hall & Wilcox in 2008, Ana had experience conducting recoveries litigation for WorkSafe Victoria.
Ana previously practiced in Canberra for over three years in the insurance litigation field, acting for both workers’ compensation and compulsory third party insurers.
Philip Hopley
Philip is an experienced corporate insurance and financial services lawyer. He leads the firm’s corporate insurance practice.
Philip helps clients do business by advising them on commercial solutions to insurance issues that are effective, clear and easy to understand.
He acts for a range of clients including general and life insurers, reinsurers, insurance intermediaries and financial institutions as well as general corporate and government clients.
Grant Galvin
Grant has more than 25 years' experience advising on catastrophic and major claims in the areas of CTP and general liability, which often involve complex liability, medical, causation and quantum issues. He is an Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law.
Grant is the section leader of the Statutory Insurance NSW/ACT team, our largest insurance practice, across two states and three offices. His team acts for well-known insurers and self-insurers in the defence of workers' compensation, work injury damages, motor accident and public liability claims.
Grant is listed as a recommended Compulsory Third Party & Motor Vehicle Accident Insurance Lawyer in NSW and as a recommended Workers Compensation Lawyer in NSW in Doyle's Guide to the Australian Legal Profession 2019-2022. He is also a recommended insurance lawyer in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2020.
Kirrilee Kennedy
Kirrilee has more than 20 years’ experience in personal injury claims, having acted for both claimants and insurers in NSW and England.
Since 2004 Kirrilee has specialised in acting for insurers in NSW in catastrophic and complex CTP claims. She is known for her pragmatic approach and aims for cost-effective and fair resolution of claims, with a strong emphasis on her client’s commercial objectives.
Kirrilee has expertise in dealing with contentious matters involving multiple defendants, indemnity and liability disputes, complex issues of medical causation and fraud
Terry Killian
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.
Doyle's Guide, recognises Terry as leading defendant lawyer in Workers’ Compensation & WorkCover and a recommended defendant lawyer in Public & Product Liability, Dust Diseases and CTP. He was also recognised in The Best Lawyers in Australia in Insurance Law and Personal Injury Litigation every year since 2019. He is the current chair of the Queensland Law Society Specialist Accreditation Advisory Committee and is an accredited specialist in personal injuries.
Terry is adept in managing complex claims and multi-party claims across a broad range of industries, with a particular focus on the mining, construction and health industries. He is trusted by clients to deal with their most sensitive or high risk claims. His ability to advocate his client’s position is best summed up by the words of mediator, Peter Munro when he says, 'As a consequence of my contact with Terry, I can say, with some conviction, that he is one of the best advocates in the mediation context, either barrister or solicitor, with whom I regularly have any contact'.
Terry is a member of the Queensland Law Society and the Australian Insurance Law Association.
Gavin Macrae
Gavin’s practice focuses on the specialist area of statutory recovery for workers' compensation claims brought pursuant to the Accident Compensation Act 1985 (Vic) and Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic). He has acted for WorkSafe Victoria and its authorised insurers since 2003.
Gavin offers responsive, straightforward and practical advice to his clients and he believes in a no-nonsense approach in all types of dispute resolution. He is an expert negotiator and maintains excellent relationships with his clients and opponents.
Gavin is a preeminent Workers Compensation (Defendant) lawyer in Victoria in Doyle's Guide to the Australian Legal Profession. Gavin sees the opportunity to recover lost revenue for self-insurers in the often under-utilised area of statutory recovery legislation. He has been instrumental in the development and design of the Hall & Wilcox recovery application for self-insurers to assist with identifying potential claims and lost revenue for clients. This innovation was recognised as a finalist at the 2016 Australasian Legal Practice Management Association/LexisNexis Legal Thought Leadership Awards.
Joe Mancuso
Joe has more than 23 years' experience advising insurers on large and complex claims under CTP and statutory classes of insurance. He also advises on commercial insurance and indemnity claims, and property damage.
Joe is well known for his practical approach to claims, advocacy skills and technical knowledge in all aspects of claims. Joe regularly appears as a CARS advocate, and on occasions against senior counsel.
Joe works primarily with insurers in the CTP and general liability space.
Bridget Mangan
Bridget’s practice focusses on personal injury litigation management. Bridget manages serious injury, common law and statutory benefits claims made pursuant to the Accident Compensation Act 1985, Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 and Transport Accident Act 1986. Bridget achieves quality outcomes for her clients in transport accident and workers’ compensation matters.
Bridget acts for the Transport Accident Commission and Worksafe Victoria, its agents and employers. Bridget is a member of the team which manages serious injury and common law matters on behalf of the Transport Accident Commission. She also manages common law and statutory benefits claims for Worksafe Victoria.
Bridget is an organised, efficient litigator with strong dispute resolution skills.
Matt McDonald
Matt is one of Australia’s leading insurance lawyers. Matt has vast experience and expertise in class actions, mass tort litigation, complex/large loss recoveries and first party coverage disputes. Matt has pioneered a highly innovative model for major event recovery actions. He also has vast experience in complex property and construction liability claims.
Matt is known for being an exacting practitioner. He is appreciated by his clients for his straightforward and cost-effective advice. Responsive and personable, Matt applies the insight of his years of experience across a broad range of legal work for insurers. He has a particular talent for conveying highly complex legal concepts, factual and expert material in an accessible, user-friendly way.
Matt is recommended in the Legal 500 Asia-Pacific in class actions, public and product liability, professional indemnity, property and coverage disputes and in Chambers Asia Pacific for insurance.
Jason McMahon
Jason commenced employment with Hall and Wilcox in January 2009 and was appointed as a Partner on 1 January 2016. Jason acts for WorkSafe Victoria and its agents and employers. He is the relationship partner and manages lawyers acting on behalf of the TAC at the firm.
Jason’s practice focuses on personal injury litigation management and administrative law. He predominantly manages Mildura and Bendigo common law and statutory benefits claims brought pursuant to the Accident Compensation Act 1985 (Vic) and the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic). Jason also has a well-developed and successful judicial review practice.
Jason's contribution to the workers' compensation scheme was recognised when he was the recipient of Worksafe's inaugural 'Award for Excellence in Personal Injury Management' in 2010. Jason has also been recognised in The Best Lawyers in Australia in Personal Injury Litigation every year since 2020 and is a recommended Workers' Compensation (Defendant) lawyer in Victoria in Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession.
Prior to joining Hall & Wilcox, Jason worked in a number of roles at the TAC and TAC Law from 1998 and later WorkSafe Victoria in 2004. Jason remained at WorkSafe Victoria for approximately four years with his final position being Principal Workers’ Consultant at WorkCover Assist – a division of WorkSafe Victoria which provides representation for workers before the Accident Compensation Conciliation Service.
Kathy Melville
Kathy has over 20 years’ advocacy experience, and over 15 years’ experience in defending and managing workers’ compensation and common law claims in Western Australia. Kathy acts for and advises insurers and employers, and regularly appears in the District Court and at WorkCover WA.
Kathy is highly regarded for her combination of communication and technical skills. Kathy has particular expertise advising on indemnity issues, and has advised and assisted a national insurer with the drafting of policy wordings and policy endorsements. Kathy also has a particular interest in and extensive experience in all aspects of fatality claims.
Kathy regularly advises in multi-party matters involving complex contractual indemnity and recovery claims.
Simon Morgan
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 of the Australian Insurance Institute. He is a recommended CTP & Motor Vehicle Insurance lawyer in NSW in Doyle's Guide to the Legal Profession, as well as a recommended insurance lawyer in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific.
Matthew Needham
Matthew has over 18 years experience in insurance litigation and specialises in defending state statutory class and common law claims arising in the challenging Australian Capital Territory jurisdiction. He regularly assists insurers and self-insurers to liaise with the ACT regulator on issues concerning the ACT scheme.
Matthew is highly experienced in the defence of state statutory classes litigation and uses his knowledge to assist clients with strategic claims management in order to achieve streamlined and commercial outcomes. He regularly appears in the ACT Magistrates Court, ACT Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
Matthew is also highly experienced in worker to worker claims on workers' compensation recoveries in construction site matters. He specialises in complex personal injuries litigation involving employers, head contractors and multiple subcontractors.
Matthew works with national insurers, self-insurers and boutique insurers operating within the ACT underwritten scheme.
Matthew has been recognised in The Best Lawyers in Australia in Litigation every year since 2019. He is also recognised as a preeminent workers' compensation lawyer in Doyle's Guide 2020.
Andrew Murphy
Andrew’s practice includes workers' compensation, work injury damages/common law, s151Z recoveries, builders warranty claims, workplace law and alternative dispute resolution.
He has extensive experience in providing advice and acting on behalf of insurers and employers in relation to a wide variety of workers' compensation claims including but not limited to death and catastrophic injury claims, work injury damages claims, psychological injury claims, hearing loss claims, general workplace injury claims, workplace motor vehicle accident claims, coal miner claims and lead agent matters on behalf of multiple scheme agents.
Andrew has worked in workers' compensation since 2004 and has acted for all the NSW WorkCover and NSW Self Insurance Corporation Scheme Agents. He has also acted for Coal Mines Insurance.
Elisa Paxton
Elisa’s practice focuses on common law and statutory benefits claims brought pursuant to the Accident Compensation Act 1985 (Vic) and the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2014 (Vic).
Elisa acts for WorkSafe Victoria and its agents and employers.
Elisa is a proactive and tenacious litigator with the skill to identify key issues. She passionately pursues issues of liability. Elisa is a firm believer in acquiring the support and involvement of employers from the very beginning of a matter, including attending site views and meeting with witnesses. Elisa is actively involved in developing Smarter Law innovations for use both within the firm and to the benefit of WorkSafe Victoria. Innovations that Elisa has worked on have won WorkSafe Victoria’s Annual Innovation Award for 2018 and 2019.
Prior to commencing with Hall & Wilcox, Elisa completed her articles at a plaintiff personal injury firm.
Chris Sacré
Partner
Leigh Parker
Leigh has significant experience and expertise in general insurance litigation acting for most major Australian insurers as well as a number of English insurers and underwriters.
His specialty is in property damage liability claims (defence and recovery) and professional indemnity. He also has expertise in policy interpretation and defending fraudulent claims.
His practice spans high frequency litigation as well as multi-million dollar litigation.
Leigh is highly regarded for his project management expertise which comes to the fore in his conduct of long and complex trials. He has also worked across most jurisdictions in Australia and has significant experience in both New South Wales and Victoria.
Leigh has an eye for detail and an excellent track record. He understands the imperative to achieve commercial outcomes, and looks for early and creative settlement opportunities where appropriate. He is also responsive and personable in his dealings with clients and insureds.
Andrew Stamp
Andrew practices in personal injury litigation on behalf of self insurers, employers, and WorkSafe Victoria and its agents, managing claims brought under the Accident Compensation Act 1985 (Vic) and the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic).
Andrew has a strong knowledge of the breadth of issues involved in personal injury management across both statutory and common law claims. His understanding of the Victorian scheme, and particularly his appreciation of the demands upon self insurers navigating in that scheme, enables him to achieve consistently strong results that meet his client’s objectives.
His awareness of scheme issues generally led to the concept behind Hall & Wilcox’s award-winning RecoverEase platform, designed to help clients nationally identify potential recovery claims.
Andrew is a leading workers' compensation lawyer in Victoria in Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession.
Tanya Smart
Tanya is an insurance specialist and an Accredited Specialist in personal injury. For over 25 years, she has worked with insurers and self-insured corporations to resolve CTP and public liability claims, including major and catastrophic claims. Her clients include IAG and Allianz.
Tanya has defended claims involving complex insurance indemnity issues, dual insurance, nervous shock, compensation to relatives claims, multi-defendant matters with cross-claims, detailed quantum calculations, and administrative law challenges to decisions of Members and medical Assessors of the Personal Injury Commission. Tanya has deepened her knowledge of administrative law through her pro bono practice in judicial review of decisions of tribunals of the Federal Government concerning asylum seekers.
Tanya has defended cases related to accidents which have occurred in most states and territories within Australia as well as in the UK, requiring knowledge of the damages regimes in those jurisdictions.
She has acted as an advocate at numerous assessment conferences conducted by Members of the Personal Injury Commission.
Kelli Stallard
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 inquests throughout Australia.
Kelli is well placed to advise on issues of insurance through her high profile in the national insurance industry with experience in serving on the board of the Australian Insurance Law Association Ltd (AILA) as past President, past Vice President and past National Secretary. She has also served as past Chairman of the Queensland branch. This has provided her with insight into the wider issues that impact on the insurance industry generally. Her contribution was acknowledged when she was awarded life membership.
Kelli was a member of the Queensland Workplace Health and Safety Board for 15 years, the peak advisory board on occupational health and safety issues to the Minister for Employment, Training and Industrial Relations. Kelli is the only Australian member of the Product Liability Advisory Council (PLAC) in the US.
Kelli has a long record of providing resources for training both in-house and on site for many key clients, industry groups and legal groups having presented and chaired over 250 seminars including to the Queensland Law Society, AILA, PLAC, the Claims Discussion Group. Kelli is a trained mediator and has represented clients in hundreds of formal settlements conferences and mediations. Kelli is also an immediate past member of the Executive International Law Section of the Law Council of Australia.
Mitchell Stein
Mitch is an experienced insurance and litigation lawyer who acts for insurers and private clients. The cornerstone of his practice is assisting medical and allied health practitioners with civil and disciplinary claims as well as a broader practice in the areas of public and product liability, professional indemnity and financial lines.
Mitch is highly regarded for his depth of knowledge in the medical defence space and partners with his clients to navigate challenging situations. He is a trusted advisor to his clients.
Mitch has appeared on behalf of clients in the Magistrates, District and Supreme Courts in Queensland and well as the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal in New South Wales. He also has extensive experience in litigation in other States of Australia. Mitch regularly appears for health practitioners in disciplinary matters before QCAT, NCAT, National Boards as well as being instructed to act for interested parties in coronial investigations in Queensland and New South Wales.
Daniel Stoddart
Daniel is an experienced insurance lawyer with close to 20 years advising clients on insurance litigation. He specialises in catastrophic claims, indemnity issues, fraudulent and complex economic loss claims. He has particular expertise in compulsory third party claims, public liability claims, property damage recovery actions, and defending section 151Z recovery actions.
Daniel is well known for his pragmatic approach to claims, his advocacy and his technical knowledge. He advises large national insurers and self-insured corporates.
Daniel has acted for insurers in many leading decisions in the Court of Appeal and also regularly manages special projects for insurers. He is also a sought after speaker with respect to claims management issues.
Ilona Strong
Ilona has more than 15 years’ experience with her practice focusing on both statutory and common law claims across both Victorian and Tasmanian workcover legislation. She has acted for both agent insured and self-insured clients that operate in a range of industries, including manufacturing, retail and banking. Ilona also has experience in acting for clients in the commonwealth compensation jurisdiction.
With an approach that addresses each claim holistically, Ilona ensures that her clients’ business needs are reflected, whilst also gaining an understanding of the industries in which they operate. She recognises the benefits of early resolution of workers’ compensation claims without resorting to protracted litigation for both her clients and the injured worker. With this in mind, Ilona’s strategy is to be proactive and negotiate settlements as early as possible.
A strong team player, Ilona enjoys working alongside her clients, and managing claims and strategy collaboratively, which often includes liaising with different client representatives of a particular self-insurer. Clients often call upon her to give verbal strategic advice prior to the lodgment of a claim and during the lifecycle of a claim for compensation. Having insight into the operations of a client can assist with putting the right strategy into place early on and in some cases in anticipation of a claim being lodged.
Understanding her client’s frustrations and common problems they faced led to the development of CLEAR. CLEAR stands for common law early assessment review and is a web based application that Ilona designed to assist clients identify common law claims early and to be proactive rather than reactive in the defence of such claims. Ilona won the WorkSafe Innovation Award for CLEAR in 2019.
Ilona has experience with secondments and assisting self-insured clients with establishing processes and systems in relation to day to day claims management as well as providing strategic claims management advice.
Ilona was a winner of the Australasian Lawyer’s Elite Women 2021 which recognises the top 50 Leading Women in Law. She has also been recognised in The Best Lawyers in Australia every year since 2021 and is a Recommended Lawyer in the Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2022 in Insurance Law. In 2020, Ilona was a Partner of the Year – Biglaw finalist in Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards.
Nicholas Studdert
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 Personal Injury Commission, District Court and Supreme Courts, including at the appellant level.
Nicholas works with a large number of insurers and employers and is regularly involved in training and educating his clients on a range of topics and is the co-author of the LexisNexis practical guidance for NSW work injury damages claims.
Nicholas was listed as a leading workers' compensation lawyer in NSW in Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession from 2020-2022. He has also been listed in The Best Lawyers in Australia in Personal Injury Litigation every year since 2020.
Joanna Turnbull
Joanna is an experienced insurance lawyer, specialising in statutory classes of insurance.
Joanna has extensive experience advising and representing employers, self-insurers, NSW workers compensation managed fund scheme agents, treasury managed fund agents and the Workers Compensation Nominal Insurer (icare).
Joanna’s practice incorporates statutory and common law claims and judicial review matters. She manages matters involving both physical and psychological injuries, litigated matters and non-litigated advice work.
She regularly appears in the NSW Personal Injury Commission, District Court and Supreme Court.
Self-insurer and employer clients value Joanna's strong understanding of the claims management process and the challenges they face in managing workers' compensation claims. Prior to being admitted as a solicitor, Joanna worked for a large NSW workers' compensation insurer providing her with first-hand experience in the day to day management of claims.
Joanna regularly presents seminars and provides formal and informal training to self-insurers and employers on management of workers' compensation liability, management of workers' compensation claims and legal developments in NSW workers' compensation.
Eden Winokur
Eden is a leading cyber, privacy, disputes and insurance lawyer who heads Hall & Wilcox’s cyber team.
Eden specialises in advising on the full spectrum of cyber risk. This includes:
acting as incident response provider/breach coach and/or legal advisor in the event of a cyber security incident or data breach, providing an urgent triage and assessment of the incident and risks;
managing the incident response process, including the engagement of cyber security and other expert vendors, along with directing IT forensic investigations. Beyond IT experts, cyber incidents can involve engaging specialist vendors for reputational risks, notification specialists, call centre services, credit monitoring providers, business interruption adjustors and ransomware negotiation experts. Eden has strong relationships with leading specialist vendors dealing with all aspects of cyber incidents;
cyber insurance coverage advice, including in relation to claims by SMEs as well as large and complex claims, which often require technical knowledge about cyber incidents;
providing privacy and other legal advice in respect of actual or suspected data breaches or security incidents, including drafting notifications to and engaging with the OAIC and individuals affected by data breaches;
advising clients in relation to regulatory investigations initiated by the OAIC, as well as assisting clients respond to and settle complaints with the OAIC following a data breach;
managing privacy advice from local experts in multi-jurisdictional incidents, particularly those involving European citizens under GDPR;
advising on notifications to regulators and regulatory bodies, including ASIC, APRA, ASX, ACSC and ACNC; and
defending or bringing subrogated claims arising from cyber incidents, particularly in relation to social engineering fraud, breach of contract or negligence.
Bridget Wall
Bridget is an experienced insurance litigator based in Brisbane, specialising in financial lines and professional indemnity products.
Bridget’s area of expertise has been the defence of professional negligence claims against solicitors, accountants, insurance brokers, financial planners, construction professionals and allied health professionals. She also regularly acts for insurers on policy interpretation and indemnity disputes.
Bridget is known for her technical expertise, her proactive management of claims, her deep understanding of the insurance industry and the needs of her clients. Bridget has worked extensively throughout Australia having practised as a solicitor in Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania.
Team Services
Australia’s insurance businesses need more from their advisors than ever before.
Legal advisors are expected to be proactive, aware of business risks and possibilities, and able to service insurers and their clients across an ever-broader landscape of business requirements, regulations, geographies and product lines.
We have answered this challenge. By providing specialist experience across general and statutory insurance, we have become one of Australia’s major insurance legal teams. We have the expertise across product lines and geographical locations to provide a depth of service to clients in the insurance sector and to follow clients into new jurisdictions and new areas of business.
Commitment to the market: For 70 years Hall & Wilcox has advised Australia’s key insurers and those in the global insurance market and is an active participant in the industry. Hall & Wilcox’s long term business plan commits us to be Australia’s largest independent 360-degree full-service legal adviser to the insurance industry for the next 70 years.
Understanding the market: Businesses need to ensure the interests of its members are protected whilst remaining competitive in a heavily-regulated Australian and Global environment. The regulator is as active as ever. We have worked with a number of financial services providers in assisting them to charter their way through regulatory issues including the recent Royal Commission. We understand the key challenges financial services firms face.
A truly national insurance team: We collaborate together in our National Insurance Team to provide a ‘one-stop’ shop specialist approach.
Cross practice support: Hall & Wilcox collaborates across its internationally recognised teams in commercial litigation, tax, property and projects, corporate and commercial, and financial services. For example, we are the only national firm on IAG’s Corporate and Claims panels.
We have an outstanding reputation in the Australian insurance industry and the legal community. We were named Insurance Team of the Year at the Australian Law Awards 2015, and were finalists in 2017 and 2018.
We are a full-service insurance practice with specialist lawyers providing:
Corporate Insurance
General insurance claims services
Statutory claims services