Senior Associate (Financial Lines)

Kennedys is seeking a Senior Associate to join Emily Schneider's team in our Melbourne office.

This is an exceptional opportunity to work on complex financial lines and professional indemnity (including construction) and D&O within our market-leading insurance practice. You'll gain exposure to high-profile disputes, class actions, coverage advice, and regulatory matters for a diverse range of professionals and corporates.

Emily's practice spans Financial Lines, D&O and Professional Indemnity for accountants, financial advisors, construction professionals, property valuers, real estate agents, solicitors and law firms. She also acts for local councils, statutory authorities, not-for-profits, trustees and SMEs. You'll work on matters ranging from large-scale construction disputes to class actions and regulatory investigations.

You'll join a collaborative and high-performing team working on sophisticated matters across multiple jurisdictions including the Supreme Court of Victoria, County Court, VCAT and Federal Court.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Manage professional indemnity and D&O matters with appropriate supervision
• Work on construction disputes (mostly litigated)
• Assist with class action defence
• Draft pleadings, advices, and submissions
• Draft coverage advice for insurers
• Liaise with clients, barristers, experts and insurers
• Appear in courts and tribunals for directions hearing and compulsory conferences

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR:

• 4+ years' PQE* in commercial litigation, insurance, or professional indemnity
• Strong litigation skills and proven ability to manage complex files
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong legal research and drafting abilities
• Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities with strong organisational skills
• High level of professionalism and integrity
• Collaborative team player willing to support colleagues
• Self-motivated with genuine ambition to develop expertise in insurance law
• Commercial acumen and client-focused approach

WHAT WE OFFER:

• Exposure to diverse practice areas including PI, D&O, construction, and class actions
• Develop expertise across multiple jurisdictions
• Career development opportunities within a global firm
• Collaborative and supportive team environment
• Competitive remuneration and benefits package

Ready to advance your insurance litigation career at a leading international firm? We'd love to hear from you.

*Where a level of experience is indicated, this represents our preference based on the complexity of matters handled. We encourage applications from candidates with relevant experience who demonstrate the requisite skills and knowledge.

Please let us know if you require any additional support or adjustments to be made in order to submit your application to Kennedys

About Kennedys

Kennedys is a global law firm with expertise in dispute resolution and advisory services. With over 3,000 people in 45 offices across 18 countries around the world we have some of the most respected legal minds in their field.

Our lawyers handle both contentious and non-contentious matters, and provide a range of specialist legal services, for many industry sectors but we have particular expertise in litigation and dispute resolution, especially in defending insurance and liability claims.

We're a fresh-thinking firm, and we're not afraid to bring challenging new perspectives to the table way beyond the traditional realm of legal services. We empower our clients with a diverse range of ideas, tools and technology to make their lives easier, as well as delivering exceptional results, every time.

What do we have to offer?

We welcome high-performing lawyers, business services professionals, secretaries, graduates and apprentices to join our rapidly expanding global firm. Whatever your role at Kennedys, you'll be involved in exciting and stimulating work, where your input will make a difference.

Our culture and values form a big part of who we are and we take them seriously. We make a difference by being approachable, straightforward, supportive and distinctive. Our values are at the core of who we are and what make us a great firm to work with and for.

The Firm recognises the value of investing in our people's development and believes our culture and values contribute to the quality of our work and of our client relationships. With a culture of on-the-job and experiential learning, peer to peer learning, mentoring, resources and tools that enable you to drive your career, we can support your development in your current and future roles. A variety of other opportunities are available including secondments to clients and our global offices.

We strive to celebrate diversity, empower our people and ensure everyone can bring their authentic selves to work. We've created a culture based on client service, professional excellence, hard work and trust, where diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is a key priority. We recognise that many of our people want to work for an employer that is aligned to their values, which is why we are building an inclusive culture, decarbonising our operations and supporting our people to thrive at work. Our people are the key to driving this change and helping us to make a difference to our clients, our people and the communities in which we live and work.

Kennedys is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. We expect all employees to be aware of and comply with all relevant policies and procedures within their jurisdiction, including those relating to Information Security, Data Protection and Quality Management, refer any breach promptly to Risk & Compliance and to complete all mandatory training when requested.