Deborah Newberry

Deborah is responsible for leading Kennedys’ global public affairs and thought leadership initiatives. This involves examining emerging insurance risks, as well as the impact of legal and political shifts on the international insurance business environment and providing valuable insights on the insurance industry for clients and a broader range of stakeholders.

Based in London, Deborah qualified as a solicitor in 2000 and specialised in healthcare law before joining Kennedys in 2010 as a practice development lawyer. Deborah now takes a strategic lead in the firm’s Innovation Group – a progressive client focused consultative group designed to identify the disruptions to the legal insurance market and enable risk-focused decision making and the identification of strategic opportunities.

Deborah has a proven record in creating effective lobbying strategies on issues affecting the sector – utilising public policy issues to help drive corporate communications. Major client wins including securing changes to UK legislation in the areas of autonomous vehicles, the implementation of Lord Justice Jackson’s recommendations in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act and the wider transformation of civil justice including digitisation.

A prolific writer and public speaker, Deborah has undertaken global research projects on behalf of insurers, corporates and the public sector. This includes examining the impact of Brexit on the insurance sector and presenting the findings to Westminster.

Deborah contributed to the writing of Kennedys' 'Global forecast 2024: Evolving insurance risks' report, published in January 2024.

Deborah also contributed to the writing of Kennedys' ‘Rewriting the risk: Addressing the challenge of climate change’ report, which was published in July 2022.

She also contributed to the Claims inflation and personal injury claims: a global review report, published in June 2023.