The firm welcomed two partners and four new team members
Wotton + Kearney (W+K) has welcomed two partners and four other new team members to the firm’s expanding Adelaide office.
Cheryl Phillips and Bill Conor are the firm’s newest partners. Coming from MinterEllison, Phillips has broad insurance law experience and expertise in large personal injury claims, complex liability claims and dust diseases litigation. She has also advised clients on life insurance and motor vehicle accident claims.
Conor previously worked with Barry.Nilsson. He specialises in financial lines insurance, including professional indemnity matters and D&O claims. He has also advised clients on property damage, business interruption and construction claims.
W+K has also engaged four other new team members:
- Trudi-Ann Mercurio (special counsel)
- Eveline Rygorowicz (senior associate)
- Georgina Irving (solicitor)
- Louise Labrosciano (practice administrator)
The new team members will join Matthew Elson, Lani Carter, and Nicholas Salagaras in W+K’s Adelaide office. The firm said that the new team’s combined expertise, together with that of its existing Adelaide team, will provide fantastic legal solution for the firm’s insurance sector clients doing business locally in Adelaide and across the country.
In May 2022, the firm announced the opening of its Adelaide office. W+K chief executive partner David Kearney commented, “Our expansion into Adelaide will meet our increasing local client demand. It’s also a great example of our people first strategy in practice.”
He added that throughout the pandemic, the firm had lawyers who wanted to work from their hometowns. The arrangement worked so well that the the firm decided to create a private office for the team within a co-working space on Pirie Street. To accommodate its rapidly growing Adelaide team, W+K is moving to new premises at 25 Grenfell Street.
With the addition to the firm’s Adelaide team, W+K now has 71 partners and more than 360 dedicated insurance lawyers across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Wellington, and Auckland. The firm also has an active presence in the London and Singapore markets.
