Katherine Proctor

Our much loved partner, Katherine Proctor, has sadly passed away following a long illness. We will forever celebrate and remember Kat and her time at Kennedys. Our love and thoughts are with her family at this difficult time.

Tributes have been paid to Kennedys’ partner Katherine Proctor following her death at the age of 41 – “a truly outstanding lawyer and a very dear friend.”

Katherine – or Kat to those who knew her – joined Kennedys in 2018 as a partner in our London office.

Chambers described her as “simply superb” – and everyone who worked with her agreed.

She was dedicated, driven and relentless in her desire to deliver the best outcomes for clients, but also equally generous with her time and effort when it came to helping colleagues.

In recent years Kat supported the BEE programme, which provides financial literacy workshops for 9 – 11-year-olds and was a mentor for The Big Alliance which allows secondary school and sixth form students to meet business professionals to mentor them on core employability competencies.

Kat studied law at Northumbria University where she was awarded two prestigious prizes for her work and graduated in 2003 with a first-class honours degree.

She worked first for Ince & Co then Clyde & Co before joining Kennedys where she regularly handled multi-million-pound claims and co-chaired the firm’s international arbitration group.

Colleagues, former colleagues and clients will remember Kat, not just for her professional excellence but for her infectious personality – fun, fearless and a proud Geordie lass whose smile lit up the room.

Nick Thomas, Senior Partner, said: “I am still struggling to accept that we will never see her again. She had so much more to give and will be greatly missed by all who knew her.”

Suzanne Liversidge, Global Managing Partner, added: “Kat was a tremendous force of nature in every way. She was a truly outstanding lawyer whose commitment to Kennedys was delivered with unparalleled tenacity and passion.

“So many people have reached out to express their sadness at the news and I hope that her family will take comfort in the fact that Kat made such a positive impression on those who knew her, worked with her and loved her as a colleague and a very dear friend.”

Kat, much-loved daughter of Margaret and Tom, twin sister to Helen and devoted aunt to Jack and Olivia, passed away in July following a long illness.

Donations, if desired, can be made to The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity here.

Katherine was a senior partner in our London office and co-Chair of Kennedys’ International Arbitration Group.

She specialised in insurance, reinsurance and general commercial dispute resolution (litigation, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution), working primarily on complex, high value and multi-jurisdiction disputes.

Katherine’s comprehensive insurance and reinsurance practice saw her act for insurers, reinsurers and brokers in the UK and international markets. Her main areas of expertise included casualty (including the Bermuda Form), construction and engineering, onshore energy, property, financial institutions, D&O, fine art and specie, and brokers’ negligence. She regularly dealt with matters including law and jurisdiction, policy coverage, aggregation, subrogation, fraud and enforcement.

Katherine also acted for commercial clients in relation to UK and international contractual and tortuous disputes. She was involved in a number of high profile and commercially sensitive matters, as well as a multitude of cases involving fraud.

As a result of her experience and having undertaken four secondments in the London market, she had considerable expertise in the practical and commercial aspects affecting the handling of claims and litigation.

Katherine was an Accredited Mediator by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) and was in CIArb training to become an arbitrator.  She was also an Executive Committee Member of the International Fine Art and Specie Insurance Conference and a member of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers.

Katherine was an author in the latest edition of Kennedys’ Claims Handling Law and Practice Guide which was published in February 2021.