DWF, the UK-based integrated legal and business services provider, has added a nine-partner insurance litigation team from national firm Hall & Wilcox to boost its Australian business, after commencing a major Australian move in 2019.
DWF sharply reduced its Australian team in 2021 and the new team, led by partners Matt Curll and Rachael Arnold, represents Hall & Wilcox’s entire London markets division.
The firm is intent on building its global footprint in the world market, Australia being a major Lloyds market, following the UK, US and Canada.
The group will primarily be based in Sydney, with additional team members operating from Brisbane, Newcastle, and Melbourne.
DWF recently acquired Proclaim, a leading Australian claims management company, which was completed in September 2024.. The Proclaim acquisition added 60 professionals to DWF’s ranks and significantly expanded its Claims Management and Adjusting (CMA) capabilities in Australia.
The DWF press statement regarding the acquisition is below –
DWF, the global provider of integrated legal and business services, has announced that it has reached an agreement to recruit the London market team of the Australian law firm, Hall & Wilcox. The move will result in nine partners joining DWF.
The team, which is led by Matt Curll and Rachael Arnold, is considered one of the leading insurance litigation practices in Australia. It has a highly complementary client base of global insurers and London market based insurance syndicates.
Matthew Doughty, CEO of DWF’s Insurance Services division, said: “It has long been a strategic priority to grow our business organically in key markets such as Australia, including through senior lateral hire recruitment. We believe this move will significantly strengthen our ability to support clients across Australia and globally.”
Matt Dudakov, Managing Director of DWF in Australia, added: “We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues to the business. Our team here in Australia has driven dramatic growth in recent years, and the addition of this stellar team will add further momentum to our success. It builds on, and is highly complementary to, our recent acquisition of Proclaim, the leading Lloyd’s of London claims management business in Australia.”
Jon Broome, Managing Director of Proclaim, said: “We, and a number of our clients, know the team well and this presents an opportunity for us to deliver a more integrated service in the future across the whole claims lifecycle, whilst at the same time respecting clients’ preferences as to outside counsel and their existing panel arrangements.”
The majority of the team will be based in Sydney, with colleagues also based in Brisbane, Newcastle and Melbourne. It is expected that the team will join DWF by May 2025 at the latest.
DWF has around 2,000 people in its global Insurance Services division and is one of the world’s leading providers of legal and business services to the insurance industry.
