Richard Leder will be leading W+K’s commercial disputes offering
Wotton + Kearney (W+K) has attracted top disputes, media and defamation law star Richard Leder OAM from Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
Leder has acted for the likes of Rebel Wilson, Channel 7 and the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in defamation matters, complex personal injury issues and institutional abuse claims. He has also handled Royal Commissions, Inquiries and Inquests.
In 2019, he received an Order of Australia medal for contributions to the community. At present, he chairs the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation.
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Leder said he was looking forward to the opportunity to “lead and grow the firm’s commercial disputes offering.”
“Wotton + Kearney has a first-class reputation for the respected and sensitive approach it adopts in the challenging area of institutional abuse claims. I know the firm will enthusiastically embrace the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne as a client to further enhance its reputation for this important legal work,” he said.
Making the jump with Leder are new partner Georgie Austin; senior associates Jacquie Goodwin, Blake Pappas and Simone Tagliaferro; associate Renata Romeo; and practice administrator Karolyn Connelly. Austin, a seasoned disputes and sports practitioner, has worked on Royal Commissions and Inquiries, commercial disputes, and defamation cases.
“I welcome Richard, Georgie and their team to Wotton + Kearney and am particularly excited about the contribution they will make to our growing national commercial disputes offering. Our firm has built a very significant dispute resolution team across Australia and New Zealand off the back of strong support from the insurance industry. That support has led to an increasing number of relationships with corporations looking to better manage risk,” W+K CEP David Kearney said. “A natural next step is to strengthen those relationships by building out our commercial disputes offering – particularly given the changing nature of risk transfer over the past few years.”
Leder and his team will be operating from W+K’s Melbourne branch.