About

Led by general counsel Richard McIntosh, the five-strong Tower Insurance legal team has been particularly busy lately, as McIntosh explains: ‘The ongoing impacts of the Canterbury Earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 had a significant and ongoing legal impact on the insurance industry. Of these, the recovery of land and building payments made by insurers to insured customers on behalf of the New Zealand Earthquake Commission has posed some of the most significant challenges; Tower’s legal team led the industry in utilising the resources of both local and international legal firms and experts to manage a complex and unique recovery program’. The company has a long and illustrious history, having originally been founded in 1869 not long after the meeting of the first New Zealand Parliament, and has been a key name in the New Zealand insurance landscape ever since. McIntosh explains the structure of the team as being a ‘tight-knit, collaborative team that is passionate about problem-solving. The personalities in the team complement each other, and each person in the team strives to deliver practical, realistic outcomes: the aim is to avoid legalese, make legal answers simple and easy, and take those in the business on the journey with them, so that they understand the reasons why a particular outcome has been reached’. Alongside McIntosh, team members Megan Bonetti, Lara Teesdale and Vanessa Ma were singled out for praise due to their indispensable contribution to the Tower Insurance legal team’s success.