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Dearne has over 15 years' experience in insurance law, specialising in professional indemnity and other financial lines claims, construction disputes and subrogated recoveries. She acts on instructions from both Australian and London-based insurers across a number of jurisdictions, including acting as defence counsel and providing standalone coverage advice.
Dearne represents clients in courts at all levels and handles claims ranging from low value to multi-million dollar actions. She has significant experience acting as defence counsel in complex, multi-party litigation.
Prior to joining Lander & Rogers, Dearne spent over 10 years with a specialist insurance law firm in Sydney. During this time she was seconded to two local insurers, where she gained valuable experience in claims handling and policy drafting.
Dearne is recognised in Best Lawyers in Australia for her expertise in Insurance Law.
Experience
Dearne's areas of expertise include:
- professional indemnity insurance
- building and construction
- subrogated recovery claims.
Career highlights
Dearne's career highlights includes:
- defending a $95M claim against an international property services company relating to the leasing of a direct factory outlet centre at a greenfields site in Western Sydney
- defending a negligence claim against a national valuation firm arising from an alleged overvaluation of a development site located in Sydney's northern beaches
- acting for insurers on a subrogated recovery action involving fire damage to four tenancies at a Sydney homemaker centre
- defending a negligence claim against an international property services company in connection with the management of a mixed-use development in North Sydney
- providing standalone coverage advice to insurers on claims notified under project-specific professional indemnity policies
- acting on behalf of an engineering firm in proceedings litigated in the Supreme Court of New South Wales for damages as a result of subsidence to a neighbouring property during construction
- successfully acting for insurers seeking to recover $25M under a reinsurance policy following a fire at an abattoir in South Australia
- advising on indemnity and acting as defence counsel in claims against a range of professionals including valuers, real estate agents, accountants, financial planners, insolvency professionals and engineers.
