Outstanding litigator and class action expert Amanda Beattie is joining W+K as a partner in Sydney on 1 March 2023. Amanda, who was previously with King & Wood Mallesons, has a keen ability to run novel, large-scale litigation through to trial in multiple jurisdictions. Her expertise, when combined with that of our insurance subject matter experts, creates a unique “dual expertise” class action defence offering for the market.

Amanda has defended many class actions, including litigation involving environmental contamination and shareholder class actions. Her experience has included running large, multi-site teams and managing million+ document discoveries. She also has considerable expertise in large-scale commercial disputes, ASIC and ASX investigations and Royal Commissions.

While much of Amanda’s litigation experience is centred around the highly regulated financial services sector, she also has broad experience across a wide range of sectors including government, construction, professional services, entertainment and healthcare.

“Insurers and their insureds take a sophisticated approach to defending class actions. With Amanda joining our team, we have broadened our offering by bringing the best of both worlds to our clients – outstanding class action litigation expertise and deep insurance product knowledge. Given the causes of large-scale litigation vary widely, this is particularly important in the class action arena,” said Cain Jackson, the leader of Wotton Kearney’s Financial Lines practice.

Wotton Kearney has advised insurers in a coverage and monitoring counsel capacity on many of Australia’s most significant shareholder class actions and  also defended class action litigation involving construction (cladding), investment product failures (CDOs and MIS products), natural catastrophes (bushfires) and intentional torts (unlawful search).

Amanda’s appointment to our Commercial Litigation team follows the recent arrival of team leader Richard Leder OAM and six others from Corrs Chambers Westgarth, including Georgie Austin (Partner), Jacquie Goodwin (Senior Associate), Blake Pappas (Senior Associate), Simone Tagliafero (Senior Associate), Renata Romeo (Associate) and Karolyn Connelly (Practice Administrator). The team provides services to the insurance sector and others in the complementary legal service areas of Class Action Defence, D&O Litigation, Investigations and Inquiries, and Media Law.

“We are delighted to welcome Amanda to the firm. Her expertise in effectively managing large-scale litigation will complement that of our insurance subject matter experts. The combination of their insurance insight and class action litigation expertise offers a unique proposition for the market – one that will appeal to insurers and their clients alike,” added David Kearney, Chief Executive Partner.