Katherine has been advising Australian, US and London insurers and their insured clients for 20 years. She has particular expertise in policy drafting, interpretation and advising global insurers participating in multi-national insurance programs.
She acts as coverage counsel in cases involving financial collapses, infrastructure disputes and large commercial disputes in all the lines described below.
Katherine’s areas of expertise include:
• Defending directors and officers in civil proceedings and before inquiries and commissions
• Defending finance professionals: stockbrokers, accountants and financial planners
• Defending IT service providers (including web and cloud hosting service providers) and designers, manufacturers and suppliers of IT and telecommunications equipment in technology claims
• Defending construction professionals: D&C contractors, architects, builders, engineers, certifiers
• Advising insurers and defending claims in the BioMed and Life Sciences industries
• Acting in medical negligence cases and representing insureds before coronial inquests
• Advising insurers in a wide range of product liability cases
Katherine has worked in and for the London market her whole career. She is fully versed in the Lloyd’s Claims Scheme, including the relevant protocols and reporting requirements. She is aware of the triggers for Lloyd’s underwriters in managing claims on the subscription platform. She understands its objectives and motivators, which puts her in a unique position to be able to deal with and report to clients in an efficient and sophisticated manner.
Katherine has been recognised as a leading insurance lawyer by Doyles and Chambers & Partners and applauded by clients for her accurate and commercial advice, the relationships she builds with insureds and her early resolution of disputes. Chambers & Partners 2017 received the following client testimonials for Katherine:
“If I had any matters offshore I would not hesitate to seek out Katherine’s services where appropriate. I highly rate her work.”
“Katherine is an extremely experienced lawyer. She has provided accurate and extremely helpful advice and assistance on some of my very challenging and complex matters. She is solution-driven, and has the ability to see the big picture without overlooking the small details.”
Seminars and Presentations
- Banking Royal Commission Final Report – What can we now expect? March 2019
- Australian Royal Commission into Financial Institutions, 2018
- The impact of cladding on the construction industry in Australia, 2018
- Underwriting Agencies Council of Australia, How combustible cladding is firing up regulators and the insurance market, 2018
- Impact of class actions on Side C in D&O Policies, 2017
- Insurance Contracts Act: Non-disclosure and remedies, 2017
- Blanket notifications and when a circumstance is a claim, 2017
- Reservation of rights in Australia, 2017
- Indirect causation in shareholder claims – HIH Insurance (in liq) [2016] NSWSC 482, 2016
- Australian Professional Indemnity Group, D&O fundamentals, 2016
- Sufficient notification of “facts” in cladding claim
- Changes to continuous disclosure laws passed
- Appeal decision in Lacrosse – ramifications for construction professionals
- Insurance implications of the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response) Act
- Building reforms in NSW - A new duty of care and greater regulation of construction process
- Australia's first shareholder class action judgment
- Banking Royal Commission Report - in a nutshell
- Australia to expect class action reform - ALRC Report released
- Bank of Queensland v AIG – Aggregation in representative proceedings
- Causes of data breaches, industries most impacted and regulator comments following the first 8 months of the NDB Scheme
- Financial services business fined $9M – A sign of things to come or just one bad egg?
- Australian Financial Complaints Authority set to commence on 1 November 2018
- Defence costs and duty of disclosure: A tussle between insureds and insurers
- Could limitation clauses in construction projects be unenforceable?
- New data protection requirements in the EU – A guide for Australian businesses
- Australian spy agency gets teeth
- Court of Appeal redefines broadly the auditor's duty of care and causation in the context of SMSFs
- Non-compliant cladding - a year in review
- Court grants leave to proceed directly against an insurer to recover an insured liability
- Australian Courts enforce limits on international social media
- ASIC successfully enforces best interests and appropriate advice duty laws in Federal Court
- ACCC successfully enforces new unfair contract terms laws in Federal Court
- Proposal for a comprehensive private sector whistleblower protection scheme
- Data breach by Australian Red Cross Blood Service
- Insurers and law firms at risk of cyber-attacks
- Third party claims against insurers – the NSW revolution
- Mandatory data breach notification scheme
- Unfair contract terms protections for small businesses
- Indirect causation in securities class actions
- Best Lawyers - Insurance Law 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
- Doyle's Guide - Leading Professional Indemnity Lawyers – New South Wales 2021
- Chambers and Partners Asia Pacific - Individually Ranked [Insurance]
- Doyle's Guide - Professional Indemnity - 2017, 2018 and 2019
- Doyle's Guide - Medical Negligence & Malpractice - 2017, 2018