Left: Raff and a friend’s Shih Tzu, Buckley.| Right: Raff cuddles a baby panda on a China holiday.

Workaholic Raff has a passion for AILA

AILA board member Raff Pisano, Special Counsel at MinterEllison, Melbourne, has had official roles with AILA for 13 years.

Why the dedication? Her cheeky answer is, “well some of us are workaholics”, and there’s an element of truth in that. But there’s also a desire to “give back” to the profession that has been her passion for more than 30 years.

Raff’s practice focuses on professional indemnity and D&O insurance, and banking and securities litigation. She frequently works on large, complex multiparty disputes, including class actions.

She is a past president of AILA’s and ANZIIF’s Victorian branches and a founding member and former committee member of the Victorian Insurance and Reinsurance Discussion Group and the Australian Professional Indemnity Group.

How does she manage it all? “I get bored if I’m not working,” she told Resolve. Although Raff admits she spent the four-day Easter break “doing nothing at all”.

Dedication is essential for Raff to achieve her goals. She “loved” the Victorian AILA presidency role and her time on the Victorian branch committee, but was happy to move to something new – the national board.

She acknowledges the support employers give to those working voluntarily for non-profit bodies like AILA. “Behind every volunteer on AILA's committees and board there is a generous employer supporting their commitment to the insurance industry and often lending resources to assist their efforts. That support should not go unrecognised.”

Raff’s interest in insurance law began as an undergraduate student. She worked for several years, including one full time, with insurance claims investigator Sterling Associates. That sparked an interest in, and exposure to, insurance law.

At her first firm, Maddocks, she was in the insurance and litigation team, but gradually moved more directly into banking and finance litigation.

Raff’s early career included a three-month secondment to London, working as a claims broker with Sedgwick in the Lloyd’s market.

Moving to MinterEllison in February 2003, Raff returned to a greater emphasis on insurance.

She loves the variety insurance law offers and the opportunities offered to newcomers to specialise in varied fields – public liability, aviation, marine, property damage, business interruption, catastrophic losses, or PI and D&O as Raff did.

“Insurance touches everything, you’re exposed to every sector of society, every industry,” she said.

The Covid-19 pandemic is an example. It has ramifications for business interruption, loss of rent, employment practices liability, superannuation and more. “Pick any area affected by Covid-19, the insurance industry is involved,” she told Resolve. And disputes are inevitable in the pandemic’s aftermath.

In troubled times, insurance is one of the first things people turn to.

“Unfortunately, insurance is not in school curriculums, but it impacts on every aspect of your life, whether you’re building a house, driving a car, or going to the doctor.”

Raff says an insurance career is a great option for young people. “It’s easy to move around, get your tentacles into everything, pick and choose and, eventually, become a specialist.

“No matter where you are in the industry, you can tip your toe in the water until you find your anchor point for the future.”

Raff says education is AILA’s core and, in the current environment particularly, it’s best to “stick to your core business and get it right”.

But she’s also proud that AILA has branched further afield. The annual Geoff Masel Lecture, for example, promotes thought leadership from senior industry figures. The lectures are “fundamentally educational, but also reflective and philosophical”.

The Gill Award offers opportunities for leading lights of the future to shine.

The Ron Shorter prize for public speaking helps those still “dipping their toes” to gain experience in a vital skill. “Public speaking is not just about presenting to an audience of hundreds; it’s essential, for example, for brokers presenting to boards on insurance program structures and lawyers presenting at client meetings.

“The Ron Shorter prize is a great AILA initiative” and free to those selected to participate in the public speaking training. Although the award is suspended for 2020, Raff predicts it will “come back bigger and better”.

She wants to help AILA reach out to the industry and get more engaged with all aspects of insurance. “We’re still too lawyer-centric. With a huge recession approaching and cuts on discretionary spending, that will impact on AILA.

“We need to get more insurers, brokers and adjusters actively involved. It won’t be easy in a post-Covid-19 environment, but that remains a key focus.”

Raff and her husband Jacques, a retired insurance broker, have built a new home at Ocean Grove on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula.

“Decorating is my passion,” Raff says. She’s an avid subscriber to home decorating magazines and says the house is her “life and soul”.

The three-year build and design process was “a nightmare”, but the couple now enjoys ocean views and even had a wall purpose-designed to fit a favourite piece of artwork.

After almost 20 years in an award-winning, inner-city converted warehouse apartment, Raff and Jacques love their new abode.

And they’re even contemplating getting a dog. Raff has progressed from someone with an “animal phobia” – “I’m even scared of ants” – to being happy to hug a baby panda on a trip to China and enjoy friends’ and neighbours’ pooches enough to consider having her own.

“I’m very house proud, but we have tiled floors, so you never know,” she said.

“When I retire, and I don’t know when that will be, we’ll get a dog and it can keep me fit because I’ll be forced to take it for walks.”

That’s it. The decision’s made. Next question – what breed?