New South Wales

by Alexandra Bartlett, President

The 2022 Twilight Seminar series has now concluded and was a huge success.

Thanks to Paul O’Brien and other committee members for putting on another excellent series of seminars on a range of important insurance law issues. Thanks also to series sponsor Minter Ellison for its continued support.

AILA NSW is finishing the calendar year with several signature events, including the 2022 Annual Life Insurance Review and the YP Luminaries dinner. It has been a busy year and the NSW committee has worked hard to continue to provide members with a range of events, seminars and webinars.

The NSW committee is currently working on events for the new year and planning for the annual general meeting in February 2023 is in progress.

I look forward to reporting on next year’s program soon.

I wish AILA and its members a joyful and restful holiday break.

Victoria

by Darren Ferrari, President

Looking back at 2022, it is clear that emerging from the pandemic was not as smooth as we may have expected at the start of the year.

While a return to face-to-face events is occurring, their implementation has been challenging because, among other things, people’s work practices have changed.

Nevertheless, in October alone AILA Victoria conducted two very successful events: one jointly with AICLA and a stand-alone AILA event. The AICLA event was particularly noteworthy, as it brought together loss adjusters, insurers and lawyers to discuss ways they can work more effectively as a team in addressing claims and recovery actions. Thank you to AICLA’s Nish Chandra and John Van Wetering and AILA’s John Simpson for organising such a great event.

For the first time for some years Victoria has new representatives on AILA’s board. Congratulations to Andrea Petrocco and Matt Ellis on their election. Particular thanks to Raff Pisano who, after many years serving on AILA’s board, decided not to nominate this time around.

A big thank you to the Victorian committee for your work throughout 2022 and on the events planned for early 2023. I hope to see many members at those events throughout the year.

Tasmania

by Lisa Rankin, Branch President

There have been a few changes to the Tasmanian committee over the last few months.

We farewelled Melinda Bird and Alex McKenzie and thank them for all their hard work. We have been fortunate to welcome Zach Blayden from Ereports, Katrina Barry from CCI Insurance, and Pierre Dordhain from Blumers to the committee.

We thank Luke Taylor for his time on the national board and wish Kate Stockford well in her new board role, joining David Farmer who is continuing his board membership.

We recently had a seminar presented by Steve Knight and Robert Winter about factual investigations, which saw a great mix of lawyers, investigators and insurers come together for a great event.

Heading into the end of the year, things are winding down with a social networking event in the works. 

Queensland

by Jack Fairweather, Secretary

Queensland has continued its strong offering of seminar events in the post-Covid world of 2022.

On 13 October, Michael Lee, Director of the Forensic Insurance Division at Vincents, presented on recent developments in dependency claims and assessment of damages to a mixed crowd of barristers, accountants, claims managers and lawyers.

Michael, who has appeared as an expert witness in numerous cases commenting on methods of calculating loss in dependency claims, was well placed to give attendees a historical context for recent developments in the area and shared war stories on how those issues have been considered by the courts. He also walked attendees through various calculations that might present in certain scenarios.

On 19 October, Nicola Gardner, a partner at Lander & Rogers, presented on ‘Waivers and the ACL: Are they worth the paper they are written on?’ Elizabeth Bainbridge-Brown, from Jensen McConaghy, chaired the session.

Nicola discussed the enforceability of waivers and considered topics such as waivers for health and fitness facilities, parents signing waivers for children, and the use of waivers for dangerous recreational activities. The seminar discussed the legislation, waivers in practice, recent case law, and tips and tricks to help ensure a waiver is enforceable.

On 24 October, Jessica McClymont, a barrister at Level 18 Inns of Court, presented on ‘Emerging vicarious liability issues: Part 1 the course of employment in the wake of Schokman’.

The session drew a strong crowd given the decision Schokman v CCIG Investments Pty Ltd [2022] QCA 38 has been granted special leave for the High Court to hear the appeal. The session was chaired by Liana Isaac, a senior associate at Wotton + Kearney, and Kevin Holyoak, a barrister at Callinan Chambers.

Queensland is powering towards the end of the calendar year with an excellent program of events, demonstrating the hard work the committee has put in all year.

On 10 November, Monique Moloney, a senior associate at Cooper Grace Ward), chaired a seminar on ‘Queensland’s preliminary disclosure regime: Lessons learned’ with presenters Marjorie Daley, and Jennifer Hewson, both of whom are barristers at the Queensland Bar.

On 24 November, Jason Fletcher, a senior associate at Sparke Helmore, chaired a webinar, ‘What’s #trending? A look at the financial lines sector’ with presenters Susie Amos, Principal of Finity Consulting; Ben Hine, Vice President and Claims Expert at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions; and Howard Poignand, Senior Underwriter at Woodina Underwriting Agency.

Queensland’s second annual mock trial is scheduled for 15 December, presided over by Supreme Court Justice Graeme Crow with an all-star line-up of counsel from Hemmant’s List: Richard Douglas KC, Douglas Campbell KC, Emma Fitzgerald and Meghan Rothery.