Philip is a Partner in the firm’s General Insurance group and assists insurers in managing litigation and claims on behalf of their insureds in all jurisdictions and across all classes of general insurance. Philip also assists not-for-profit organisations advising on governance, disciplinary and regulatory issues and conflict resolution and in the management of litigation.
Philip specialises in public liability claims management as well as financial lines and professional indemnity. Philip also acts for State government departments and instrumentalities as well as for the captive insurer of the State of Victoria.
Philip has been named “Lawyer of the Year” for Professional Malpractice Law in Best Lawyers™ Australia 2019 edition. He is also recognised in Best Lawyers™ Australia for Corporate/Governance Practice, Insurance Law, Product Liability Litigation and Professional Malpractice Litigation. Philip has also been named by Doyle’s Guide as a Leading Lawyer in the area of professional indemnity and as a key partner in Asia Law Profiles.
Expertise
Experience
- Various insurers and insureds Advising in management of claims and litigation including in respect of allegations involving allegations of historical child sexual abuse.
- Insurer clients Providing indemnity advice pursuant to occurrence based and errors and omissions together with claim made policy wordings including acting as coverage counsel in the oversight and reporting of litigation to insurers.
- State government department Developing a protocol to manage FOI and pre-litigation document production requests from plaintiff’s lawyers thereby significantly reducing staff and response compliance time.
- Independent school Advising clients in seeking exemption under equal opportunity legislation to permit separate gender specific waiting lists in coeducational schools.
- Religious and charity industry Advising clients in a working group with Crown Counsel in Victoria developing responses to government about proposed amendments to liability legislation and the federal Attorney-General’s Department in the design of the National Redress Scheme.
- Independent school clients Advising in defence of investigations by the VRQA, the VIT and the CCYP and drafting replacement governance policies and constitutions to ensure compliance with minimum standards guidelines.
- Independent school clients Presenting compliance training to their staff and governance boards.
- Confidential social services client Advising on a cluster inquest before the Coroner specific to the death of children subject to child protection orders.