Kennedys promotes ten to global partnership

Kennedys has promoted ten lawyers to its partnership. Four of those promoted are based in the UK, with six in the US. Kennedys’ worldwide partner count is now 280.

The new partners span specialist areas of insurance and liability including property and construction, professional liability, defence and financial lines.

In the UK, those that have been promoted are:

Louis Foscolo, who trained with Kennedys, is a property, energy and construction specialist in London. He handles in all forms of dispute resolution and has extensive experience of dealing with construction, engineering, property and energy related claims, including operational and contractors’/erectors’ (CAR/EAR) all risks, advance loss of profit, delay in start-up, business interruption, CPA Model Conditions, professional negligence, product liability and party wall matters, as well as commercial construction related issues. Louis is regularly instructed on complex contentious multi-jurisdictional matters, as well some of the most high-profile matters in the UK and internationally.

Tom Handley, works in Manchester in the professional liability team. He has particular expertise in defending heavyweight claims against construction professionals and design & construct contractors and has been involved in a number of complex cases in the Technology & Construction Court and the Court of Appeal. Tom is currently dealing with several multi-million-pound cladding and fire safety claims in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. He also has a growing practice in defending construction professionals before their regulatory bodies and he sits on RIBA’s disciplinary hearing panel.

Lewis Thompson, leads our costs team based in Sheffield. He provides advice and assistance to clients across the business in relation to all aspects of legal costs, focusing on working with insurers to maximise savings to third party litigation costs, both via detailed assessment and active costs management during litigation.

Hannah Williams is a Solicitor Advocate in our financial lines and professional liability team. Hannah advises insurers and reinsurers on coverage issues and policy disputes, with a focus on professional indemnity, directors’ and officers’ liability and commercial crime. She also acts on behalf of insurers and policyholders on a range of complex and high-value claims against D&Os and professionals, including solicitors and trustees. Hannah is also known for her work with clients in the construction sector. Based in Manchester, Hannah also works out of London.

In the US those promoted are:

William Brennan, a member of the financial lines team in the New York office, handles a broad array of insurance coverage and commercial litigation matters for the firm’s insurance and corporate sector clients. He is regularly called upon to evaluate or litigate complex coverage disputes involving insurance for professional liability, product contamination/product recall, financial institutions, environmental liability, directors and officers, media, cyber, and general liability matters.

Elizabeth Chalik, is based in the Philadelphia office and is focused on general litigation, premises liability, coverage litigation, products liability, construction accidents and construction defect and transportation litigation. In addition to traditional premises liability cases, she has represented casinos and restaurants in negligent security and liquor liability cases.

Anand Dash, who works in the Basking Ridge office, focuses on a wide-variety of real estate, property, and general commercial litigation matters, including zoning, land use, and real property-related litigation. His practice also includes trial and appellate advocacy in federal and state courts and before various administrative agencies.

Eduardo DeMarco is based in the Basking Ridge office. He focuses his practice in the areas of insurance and reinsurance coverage litigation. Eduardo has litigated matters and counselled insurers with respect to a wide variety of insurance claims and policies concerning general liability, professional liability, directors’ and officers’ liability, pollution liability, employment practices liability, OCP liability, additional insured coverage, and umbrella/excess coverage.

Allison Kane is a liability defence lawyer in the firm’s Basking Ridge office. An experienced trial attorney, Allison has represented national corporations, commercial and personal line insurers and their respective insureds in state and federal court as well as through various methods of Alternative Dispute Resolution. The majority of her cases concern automobile liability defence, uninsured and underinsured motorist claims, and premises liability.

Nicole Putnam, who is based in the New York office, specialises in insurance coverage matters primarily involving complex financial institutions and commercial directors and officers claims. She has experience in matters involving public and private company directors’ and officers’ liability, financial institutions professional liability, securities broker-dealer professional liability, hedge fund management and professional liability, technology errors and omissions and cyber liability, political risk insurance and commercial general liability policies.

Nick Thomas, Senior Partner of Kennedys, says: “I am very pleased to welcome these ten new home grown partners, who have demonstrated professionalism, knowledge and energy while at Kennedys.

“Lateral recruitment and mergers are, of course, important sources of growth which ensure we have breadth and depth of knowledge in the areas required by our clients. It is equally important, however, that we continue to support our own people, providing them with the right opportunities and ensuring there is a clear career path for them to follow and no glass ceilings.”

In the last 12 months Kennedys has made 25 lateral hires, strengthening their global offering from their offices in Australia, Israel, Oman, US and the UK.

The most recent of these laterals was the appointment of Nathan Buckley, regulatory partner, who specialises in who specialises in regulatory defence work, particularly corporate manslaughter/gross negligence manslaughter, health and safety, environment and motor crime investigations and prosecutions, together with ancillary inquests across all industries.

In the last 12 months Kennedys has also opened three new offices during global lockdowns in San Francisco, the firms’ first West Coast office in the US, Tel Aviv, when the Zelichov Ben-Dan & Co, as association of Kennedys, joined the firm and Leeds as a result of acquiring a 36 strong insurance team. In addition, the firm has just announced that they have opened a fourth new office in Perth, Australia.