Wotton Kearney has announced the promotion of 31 outstanding lawyers across the firm, effective 1 January 2025. This includes the elevation of two new partners, four special counsel, 12 senior associates and 13 associates, representing the firm’s offices across Auckland, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Wellington.
The promotions highlight the firm’s depth and breadth of talent in insurance law and risk advisory across a number of practice areas including Commercial Litigation, Cyber, Privacy & Technology, Financial Lines, General Liability, Health, Property, Energy & Infrastructure, and Workplace & Safety.
Introducing Wotton Kearney’s new partners
Sam Barker, Property, Energy & Infrastructure, Melbourne – Sam has extensive experience assisting professional and insurer clients in the construction, property and energy sectors in Australia and the UK. His practice includes a busy defence, recovery and coverage portfolio, spanning construction, first-party property and professional liability claims.
Trent O’Neill, General Liability, Perth – Trent is an experienced insurance lawyer and litigator with a focus on professional indemnity, property, liability, recovery and maritime claims. He also advises local and global insurers on policy coverage and represents insurers and insureds in claims across state and federal jurisdictions.
The firm’s other promotions include:
Special counsel
- Diviij Vijayakumar, General Liability, Perth
- Maddison Fairthorne, General Liability, Melbourne
- Justin Khouri, Property, Energy & Infrastructure, Melbourne
- Ryan Owens, Property, Energy & Infrastructure, Sydney
Senior associate
- Michelle Rich, Commercial Litigation, Melbourne
- Madison Aloisio, General Liability, Melbourne
- Samantha Wong, General Liability, Melbourne
- Alicia Dodd, General Liability, Sydney
- Carla Higgins, General Liability, Sydney
- Laura Synnott, General Liability, Sydney
- Laurette Rizk, General Liability, Sydney
- Murriam Ahmed, General Liability, Sydney
- Seth Lee, General Liability, Sydney
- Meg Kaye, Health, Melbourne
- Atticus Saunders, Workplace & Safety, Sydney
- Liam Zisis, Workplace & Safety, Sydney
Associate
- Jordan Chen, Cyber, Privacy & Technology, Sydney
- Alex Marcu, Financial Lines, Melbourne
- Mason Farley, Financial Lines, Melbourne
- Alice Gavey, Financial Lines, Wellington
- Eunice Cheung, General Liability, Canberra
- Hannah Turl, General Liability, Sydney
- Mikayla Mullally, General Liability, Sydney
- Phoebe Nikolaou, General Liability, Auckland
- James Osborne, Property, Energy & Infrastructure, Sydney
- Mansoor Sherzadah, Property, Energy & Infrastructure, Sydney
- Sandra Healey, Property, Energy & Infrastructure, Sydney
- Theo Ewart, Property, Energy & Infrastructure, Auckland
- Sarah Harvey, Workplace & Safety, Sydney
This wave of promotions follows an extraordinary year of milestones for Wotton Kearney. Highlights include the introduction of a trail blazing legal AI solution in May, the opening of its first office in Asia in June, and a bold rebrand in November.
Founded in 2002, these latest promotions take Wotton Kearney from two partners to 89, and a dynamic force of over 700 professionals spanning 10 offices across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.