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UK firm DWF has significantly expanded its Australian insurance offering by following up on November’s nine-partner raid on leading independent Hall & Wilcox by securing 53 members of their team.
DWF announced back in November that it had hired nine insurance litigation partners from Hall & Wilcox, including team leaders Matt Curll and Rachael Arnold.
The firm said it had continued discussions with those partners’ team members resulting in a total haul of 62, the majority of whom joined on Monday (3 February) with some arriving earlier and others joining later this month.
DWF said the team is considered to be one of the leading insurance litigation practices in Australia, with a client base that includes global insurers and London market-based insurance syndicates.
The majority of the team members will be based in Sydney, with the rest spread across the firm’s Brisbane, Melbourne and Newcastle offices.
Matt Dudakov, managing director of DWF in Australia, said: “This is an exciting time to join DWF in Australia. We have already driven dramatic growth in recent years, and these hires add further momentum to our success. We have more than doubled our headcount in the last six months alone as we respond to the needs of our clients and pursue our commitment to driving sustainable growth.”
The Hall & Wilcox arrivals follow DWF’s acquisition of Australian claims management business Proclaim last September, part of the firm’s strategic efforts to grow its presence in the country having scaled back its footprint in 2021 after the Covid-19 pandemic forced the firm into a series of cutbacks across its international network.
Matthew Doughty, CEO of DWF’s insurance services division, said: “I am delighted to welcome all of our new colleagues in Australia. It is a key market for our insurance business and the arrival of this stellar team, combined with our recent acquisition of the leading claims management business Proclaim, demonstrates our commitment to strengthening our capabilities for the benefit of our clients in Australia, and globally.”
Hall & Wilcox chief executive partner Graydon Dowd said: “The team primarily worked with the nine departing partners, handling claims for London insurance syndicates. This, to a significant extent, was a discrete service in our much broader insurance practice and we were expecting the team to leave with the partners.
“Our ability to service our insurance clients (across all general, statutory, professional and specialised lines) is not impacted. Our people are continuing to provide exceptional service to our clients, with no disruptions.”
The firm is the ninth-largest in Australia by partner headcount, according to publicly-available data tracked by Pirical, with 149 partners spread across eight offices.
In other Australian legal moves, Jones Day last month hired corporate partners Charles Bogle and James Wood in Sydney from Hogan Lovells as the latter firm prepares to shutter its sole Australian office. In October, HFW expanded its Perth construction practice with the hire of partner Sean Marriott from Clifford Chance. And back in August, HFW also added a restructuring duo – Paul Buitendag and Rena Solomonidis – from national firm Johnson Winter Slattery.
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