Global law firm Kennedys is strengthening its insurance practice with a five-strong team from Mayer Brown. The arrival of David Chadwick, Ingrid Hobbs, Tim McCaw, Andrew McGahey and Andrew Westlake brings the total number of partner hires in 2017 to 33. All will be joining Kennedys’ London office except Andrew McGahey, who will be relocating to Ireland to join the team in Dublin. 

Political risk

David Chadwick was head of Mayer Brown’s London Insurance and Reinsurance Group. His practice focuses in particular on political risk and trade credit with deep relationships in that market. He is also a specialist in financial institutions claims and professional indemnity and has considerable experience of reinsurance disputes. David has advised on all major issues impacting the financial markets including significant claims emanating from the global financial crisis.

Specialist insurance litigator

Ingrid Hobbs is a specialist insurance litigator with experience of both coverage and defence of claims across a broad range of sectors including product liability and recall insurance, technology and cyber risks, professional indemnity, financial institutions, media and publishing houses and directors’ and officers’ liability. Ingrid is highly regarded by many leading insurance companies and Lloyd’s syndicates, as well as insured entities for her expertise and commercial approach to resolving disputes.

Property and casualty claims

Tim McCaw advises insurers on coverage aspects of high value property and casualty claims and cross border product liability/product recall claims. Tim has extensive experience of defending professional negligence claims against a wide range of professionals including solicitors, valuers and auditors. He also has experience of advising insurers on Political Risk and Trade Credit claims and drafting policy wordings.

Directors

Andrew McGahey has advised insurers on claims involving directors and officers, financial institutions and professionals. He is also experienced in dealing with claims under warranty and indemnity and Public Officering of Securities Insurance (POSI) policies, as well as transactional liability insurance matters. Andrew Westlake specialises in advising political risk and trade credit insurers, advising on CEND (Confiscation, Expropriation, Nationalisation and Deprivation), Contract Frustration, Political Violence, Trade Disruption, Structured Trade Credit and Whole Turnover Trade Credit. His practice includes both high court litigation in London and international arbitration under LCIA and ICC Rules.

Insurance and claims strategy

Nick Thomas, Senior Partner of Kennedys, says: 'I am delighted that David, Ingrid, Tim, Andrew and Andrew are set to join Kennedys. They are all highly regarded and come with excellent reputations and strong client relationships that fit with the firm’s insurance and claims strategy. Their appointments significantly complement our domestic and global insurance practice and London Market capabilities - which were augmented with recent hires in Bermuda, Chicago and New York - and also reinforce our appetite for attracting top talent. It’s been another very positive year of growth for Kennedys and I am looking forward to being able to announce further developments in 2018.' The team will officially join Kennedys early in the New Year.