Senior Associate

This job is with Kennedys, an inclusive employer and a member of myGwork – the largest global platform for the LGBTQ+ business community. Please do not contact the recruiter directly.
Kennedys is seeking a highly motivated Senior Associate to join our Sydney office, working on defamation, general insurance, financial lines and dispute resolution matters.

This is a rare opportunity for a driven candidate to develop their career in the defamation and insurance space, working closely with Partner Nathan Buck. Nathan specialises in media and technology, reputational, brand and crisis management, professional indemnity, directors' and officers' liability, sports law, inquiries and inquests, strata disputes and migration. He represents insurers across all lines of business and has significant experience in both coverage and defence work.

You'll be part of a small, high-performing team handling high-profile matters that are often in the news, working with leading barristers in this space. The role offers genuine autonomy in running files, opportunities to mentor junior team members, and clear progression pathways in a growing global firm.

What You'll Do

• Manage complex defamation, financial lines, and commercial litigation matters with autonomy
• Draft legal documents, pleadings, and provide strategic advice to clients
• Attend mediations, negotiations and settlement conferences
• Build and maintain direct client relationships and contribute to business development
• Mentor and supervise junior lawyers in the team

What We're Looking For

• Australian qualified lawyer with 5+ years PQE*
• Proven defamation experience (plaintiff or defendant)
• Strong commercial litigation background
• Experience with direct client contact and business development
• Experience attending mediations, negotiations and settlement conferences
• Technically astute with clear, confident communication style and strong drafting abilities
• Self-starter with ability to work autonomously and collaborate effectively
• High level of professionalism and commercial awareness

Ready to advance your defamation and insurance litigation career at a leading international firm? We'd love to hear from you.

• Where a level of experience is indicated, this is a guideline only and represents the amount of time we would usually expect a candidate to accumulate the requisite level of experience. This does not preclude applications from candidates with more or less experience.

Please let us know if you require any additional support or adjustments to be made in order to submit your application to Kennedys.

About Kennedys
Kennedys is a global law firm with expertise in dispute resolution and advisory services. With over 2,750 people worldwide across 48 offices in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and America we have some of the most respected legal minds in their field.

Our lawyers handle both contentious and non-contentious matters, and provide a range of specialist legal services, for many industry sectors but we have particular expertise in litigation and dispute resolution, especially in defending insurance and liability claims.

We're a fresh-thinking firm, and we're not afraid to bring challenging new perspectives to the table way beyond the traditional realm of legal services. We empower our clients with a diverse range of ideas, tools and technology to make their lives easier, as well as delivering exceptional results, every time.

What do we have to offer?
We welcome high-performing lawyers, business services professionals, secretaries, graduates and apprentices to join our rapidly expanding global firm. Whatever your role at Kennedys, you'll be involved in exciting and stimulating work, where your input will make a difference.

Our culture and values form a big part of who we are and we take them seriously. We make a difference by being approachable, straightforward, supportive and distinctive. Our values are at the core of who we are and what make us a great firm to work with and for.

The Firm recognises the value of investing in our people's development and believes our culture and values contribute to the quality of our work and of our client relationships. With a culture of on-the-job and experiential learning, peer to peer learning, mentoring, resources and tools that enable you to drive your career, we can support your development in your current and future roles. A variety of other opportunities are available including secondments to clients and our global offices.

We strive to celebrate diversity, empower our people and ensure everyone can bring their authentic selves to work. We've created a culture based on client service, professional excellence, hard work and trust, where diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is a key priority. We recognise that many of our people want to work for an employer that is aligned to their values, which is why we are building an inclusive culture, decarbonising our operations and supporting our people to thrive at work. Our people are the key to driving this change and helping us to make a difference to our clients, our people and the communities in which we live and work.

Kennedys is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. We expect all employees to be aware of and comply with all relevant policies and procedures within their jurisdiction, including those relating to Information Security, Data Protection and Quality Management, refer any breach promptly to Risk & Compliance and to complete all mandatory training when requested.