Hall & Wilcox have acquired a new insurance team from Sydney firm McCabes as part of a goal to build up a national insurance law service.
The 10 or so person team includes two new partners – Rachael Arnold, who has already started at Hall & Wilcox - and Matthew Curll, who will join the firm after working out his notice along with the rest of the team of lawyers and support staff.
Managing partner Tony Macvean told
Australasian Lawyer that he believes Hall & Wilcox’s progressive culture and good reputation attracted Arnold, Curll and their team to the firm.
“It was about the culture and strategy rather than money,” he says.
Arnold is an experienced insurance and litigation lawyer, while Curll is a senior insurance partner who specialises in general and indemnity insurance.
Both partners act on behalf of clients domestically and in London.
Macvean says already some of the new team’s clients have jumped ship with them.
“We think we have a very attractive proposition and a number of clients are already coming across,” he says.
The acquisition of this new team is just part of a movement at Hall & Wilcox to expand nationally, something that began in February with the acquisition of the Sydney office of NZ firm Duncan Cotterill.
At the time it was largely an employment and commercial practice, to which Hall & Wilcox has since added corporate, and now, insurance.
“Our goal is to build insurance nationally. We now can service clients nationally, but moving forward we would [also] like to have an Eastern seaboard presence,” says Macvean. “We think we’re a good insurance firm and have always been strong and we think there are good opportunities in that sector for a firm like ours, especially when global firms appear to be reducing the exposure to insurance, such as
DLA Piper.”
As well as building up the presence in the Sydney market, Hall & Wilcox also has eyes on Brisbane in due course, and are continuing to build relationships in the Melbourne market.
Macvean adds that another goal is to give opportunities to existing staff for progression through the firm and a move into partnership.
