Special Counsel, Financial Lines

Kennedys is seeking an experienced Special Counsel to join our leading Financial Lines practice in Melbourne, working closely with Nicole Wearne, Australian Managing Partner, and Mark Attard, Partner. Both are recognised leaders in the insurance market, advising insurers on some of Australia's most complex professional indemnity, directors' and officers' liability, and coverage matters.

This is an excellent opportunity for a senior insurance lawyer to work on complex financial lines, professional indemnity and coverage matters, while taking a lead role in mentoring junior lawyers and contributing to the continued growth of the practice.

The opportunity

You will work across a broad range of financial lines matters, acting for local and London market insurers on:

• Professional indemnity claims involving a range of professions, including construction
• Directors' & Officers' (D&O) liability claims and investigations
• Complex coverage and policy interpretation issues
• Financial lines disputes and regulatory investigations

About you

We are interested in speaking with senior insurance lawyers who have:

• Significant experience in financial lines insurance
• Strong expertise in professional indemnity and D&O matters
• Proven experience advising on coverage issues
• Exposure to construction-related professional indemnity claims
• Excellent client relationship and matter management skills
• A collaborative approach to leadership and mentoring

Why Kennedys?

• Work directly with two highly respected leaders in the financial lines market
• Advise major Australian and international insurers
• Access complex, high-profile work from day one
• Be part of a globally recognised insurance law firm
• Enjoy genuine career progression and leadership opportunities
• Thrive in a collaborative, supportive and high-performing team environment

If you're looking to take the next step in your career with a market-leading Financial Lines team, we'd welcome a confidential discussion.
PLEASE NOTE: If you are interested in this opportunity, please apply directly to Kennedys. We prefer to talk with you personally and are currently not accepting applications from recruitment agencies for this position.

Please let us know if you require any additional support or adjustments to be made in order to submit your application to Kennedys.

About Kennedys

Kennedys is a global law firm with expertise in dispute resolution and advisory services. With over 3,000 people in 45 offices across 18 countries around the world we have some of the most respected legal minds in their field.

Our lawyers handle both contentious and non-contentious matters, and provide a range of specialist legal services, for many industry sectors but we have particular expertise in litigation and dispute resolution, especially in defending insurance and liability claims.

We're a fresh-thinking firm, and we're not afraid to bring challenging new perspectives to the table way beyond the traditional realm of legal services. We empower our clients with a diverse range of ideas, tools and technology to make their lives easier, as well as delivering exceptional results, every time.

What do we have to offer?

We welcome high-performing lawyers, business services professionals, secretaries, graduates and apprentices to join our rapidly expanding global firm. Whatever your role at Kennedys, you'll be involved in exciting and stimulating work, where your input will make a difference.

Our culture and values form a big part of who we are and we take them seriously. We make a difference by being approachable, straightforward, supportive, distinctive and ambitious. Our are at the core of who we are and what make us a great firm to work with and for.

The Firm recognises the value of investing in our people's development and believes our culture and values contribute to the quality of our work and of our client relationships. With a culture of on-the-job and experiential learning, peer to peer learning, mentoring, resources and tools that enable you to drive your career, we can support your development in your current and future roles. A variety of other opportunities are available including secondments to clients and our global offices.

We strive to celebrate empower our people and ensure everyone can bring their authentic selves to work. We've created a culture based on client service, professional excellence, hard work and trust, where diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is a key priority. We recognise that many of our people want to work for an employer that is aligned to their values, which is why we are building an inclusive culture, decarbonising our operations and supporting our people to thrive at work. Our people are the key to driving this change and helping us to make a difference to our clients, our people and the communities in which we live and work.

Kennedys is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. We expect all employees to be aware of and comply with all relevant policies and procedures within their jurisdiction, including those relating to Information Security, Data Protection and Quality Management, refer any breach promptly to Risk & Compliance and to complete all mandatory training when requested.