Raylee Hartwell
Raylee.Hartwell@kennedyslaw.com
+61 2 8215 5988
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Profile
Raylee is a Partner in Kennedys’ Sydney office, specialising in insurance law and litigation with an emphasis on professional indemnity and Financial Lines and D & O. She provides both defence and coverage advice, with a particular emphasis on contentious defence work.
Over her 30 year career, Raylee has managed some of the largest and most complex proceedings in the Australian Federal and State Courts. This has included significant class actions for insurers – exceeding AUD$1 billion in claimed damages. She has also successfully run leading cases on policy interpretation and the Insurance Contracts Act.
Raylee is also one of the few litigators in Australia who has extensive experience in both complex commercial and personal injury matters. She has a leading role in the global Kennedys team running the largest insurance proceedings currently before the Australian Courts and reporting to stakeholders across the world.
She frequently advises her clients on ‘bet the company’ litigation, often reporting directly to the Boards and General Counsels of significant multinationals and ASX listed companies. Raylee has also represented a broad range of professions and is expert in the early triage of matters and assessment of her clients’ liability. She is recognized for her sensitivity to insureds’ needs and appreciates that litigation is a highly stressful time, particularly for those who are inexperienced. She understands the importance of minimising reputational damage. She is also highly experienced in regulatory complaints.
Her clients include international Insurers, ASX-listed companies, as well as some of Australia’s largest insurers. Raylee is the lawyer of choice for a number of insurers and is frequently written into policies, including scheme arrangements.
Raylee presents regularly at conferences on a range of insurance, litigation and risk management topics. Her presentations include expert evidence, ESG, insurance issues for the construction industry, coverage, the duty to warn and issues arising from catastrophic claims.
Raylee chairs the Women at Kennedys committee in Australia and is a member of AILA, APIG and the Association for Women in Insurance.
Raylee is recognised as a Leading Individual in the Insurance and Dispute Resolution fields in Australia by The Legal 500 – including most recently being named in The Legal 500 Australia 2024 Guide. She is also recognised for her expertise in insurance in the global Expert Guides: Women in Business Law.
Raylee Hartwell is a go-to contact for professional indemnity and clinical negligence claims.
Market recognition
2023
- Leading Individual for 'Insurance (Australia)'
The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2023
2022
- Leading Individual for 'Insurance (Australia)'
The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2022
2021
- Leading Individual and Recommended Lawyer for 'Insurance (Australia)'
"Raylee Hartwell is a go-to contact for professional indemnity and clinical negligence claims."
The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2021 - Recommended Lawyer for 'Dispute Resolution: Litigation (Australia)'
The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2021
2020
- Notable practitioner for 'Insurance defence (Australia)'
"Raylee Hartwell stands out for her expertise in the professional indemnity sphere in general and in that of medical malpractice in particular, offering extensive experience in the handling of a variety of clinical negligence, D&O and general liability claims."
Chambers Asia Pacific 2020 - Recommended Lawyer for 'Insurance (Australia)'
The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2020
2018
- Leading Individual for “Insurance” (band 4)
Client notes that she is “available at all times, approachable and always in absolute command over proceedings.”
Chambers Asia Pacific 2018
2016
- Recommended Lawyer for “Insurance”
“Raylee Hartwell is a “tenacious litigator”.
The legal 500 Asia pacific 2016
Awards
Work highlights
- Acting for various aged care providers in litigated and unlitigated claims and complaints and coronial matters, many of which are confidential, high-profile cases, widely reported in the media
- Medical malpractice claims in a variety of jurisdictions, including highly complex Supreme Court matters which have gained significant media attention.
- Acting in one of the leading cases in Australia concerning the ownership of medical records between a facility, a patient and a medical practitioner.
- Acting for an aged care facility for civil claims arising from the murder of two residents by an employee.
- Acting for an economic research group and its insurer in landmark Federal Court proceedings, relating to traffic volume forecasting work conducted by AECOM on behalf of RiverCity Motorway Group owner operators of the “Clem7” tunnel in Brisbane. The matter settled in May 2016. Our client did not contribute financially to the settlement.
- Acting for Australian insurers on several high profile s.6 cases before the NSW Supreme Court, including one case involving an accountant who was named in the Project Wickenby tax investigations and another involving unauthorised neck manipulation performed by a health practitioner.
- Acting for Executive Directors in one of Australia’s highest profile insolvent trading cases arising from the collapse of a significant mining group. Our clients were ultimately released from the proceedings, without cost.
- Acting for a geotechnical engineering company in significant property damage and personal injury claims arising from the collapse of a cofferdam, and in the associated WorkCover prosecution. This matter became the leading case on the interpretation of insured vs insured clauses found in ISR policies.
- Acting for architects/design managers in relation to significant claims arising from the Kogarah gas explosion and the defence of the associated WorkCover prosecution. Judgment was entered in the insured’s favour.
Aviation
Construction and engineering
Education
Healthcare
Insurance and reinsurance
Transport and logistics