Connect with meCharles is Wotton Kearney’s Chief Operating Officer, leading the firm’s operational strategy and performance. Having been with WK since 2005, he combines a deep understanding of the business with strong insurance market expertise to help shape the firm’s long-term growth and transformation agenda.
As a member of the Executive Leadership team, Charles also plays a key role in advancing WK’s international expansion and ensuring the firm operates as One WK across all markets.
Charles has been instrumental in embedding a culture of innovation and operational excellence, working closely with WK’s Chief Technology and AI Officer to harness technology, AI and data-driven insights to improve the way legal services are delivered for the benefit of our people and clients.
Personal Injury
- Acting for a food manufacturer following claims by patrons allegedly contracting salmonella typhimurium.
- Acting for insurers of a restaurant in sensitive Compensation to Relatives claims arising from the death of a customer.
Property Damage
- Acting for Sydney Catchment Authority regarding 25 property damage claims arising from bushfires at Warragamba Dam.
Construction
- Acting for a contractor in a successful appeal to the High Court that is the leading authority on the duties owed by head contractors and sub-contractors on construction sites: Leighton Contractors v Fox; Calliden Insurance Limited v Fox [2009] HCA 35.
- Successfully defending a head contractor in the Court of Appeal, following a claim for damages by a subcontractor’s employee who fell on site and suffered brain damage: Paul Minogue v David Rudd [2013] NSWCA 345.
- Acting in Arbitration Proceedings in Malaysia against the structural engineers of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
- Acting for insurers following property damage claims arising from Cyclone Yasi and various flood events.
Subrogated Recoveries
- Acting for insurers of a strata development regarding a subrogated claim for recovery of $20+ million losses sustained in a fire.
Sports, Leisure and Entertainment
- Acting for the regulators, local and Lloyd’s-based insurers and governing bodies of various national sporting bodies in claims brought by players and participants, including career-ending injuries, and investigations into the use of banned performance-enhancing drugs.
- Class Actions
- Personal Injury
- Property Damage
- Sports, Leisure and Entertainment Liability
- Construction and Infrastructure
- Manufacturing and Consumer Goods
- Healthcare and Life Sciences
- Retail and Labour Hire
- Sports, Leisure and Entertainment
- Australian Insurance Law Association
- Australian Professional Indemnity Group
- Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance
- NSW Claims Discussion Group
- Engineering Discussion Group
- Law Society of New South Wales