Associate General Counsel

**Associate General Counsel - Litigation, Europe APAC**

Australia

We are looking for a lawyer with extensive experience of insurance coverage litigation to join our small and collaborative Litigation, Europe APAC team. The team provides legal advice regarding first and third-party coverage related matters spanning a wide range of property and casualty and specialty lines of business and plays a pivotal role in AXA XL's in-house claims legal capabilities. It also assists the claims teams with day-to-day legal questions and management of litigation.

As an Associate General Counsel - Litigation, Europe APAC, you will provide a broad range of insurance law advice to claims handlers in respect of both contentious and non-contentious matters in Australia and potentially other jurisdictions. You will work on both pre-litigation and litigated claims, as well as managing coverage litigation together with the claims handling team. You will report directly to the Head of Litigation - Europe APAC. You will be retained on a permanent full-time basis to commence as soon as possible.

**DISCOVER your opportunity**

What will your essential responsibilities include?
- Developing comprehensive and high-quality coverage analyses, litigation and settlement strategies, keeping in mind both the particulars of each case as well as its impact on the entire book of claims and the business generally. Thinking strategically about and managing claims-related litigation.
- Advising on discrete contested coverage issues to reduce reliance on external counsel.
- Providing guidance on managing litigation costs on disputed coverage claims.
- Outside of coverage and litigation advice, providing comprehensive general legal advice to the complex and multi-jurisdictional Claims organization of AXA XL, including regulatory and claims vendor contracting matters.
- Communicating effectively in writing and face-to-face with key stakeholders, in particular claims handlers and senior management.
- Participating in the development of litigation management systems and processes in collaboration with other internal litigation units.
- Overseeing the selection and management of qualified, cost-effective outside counsel and other litigation vendors; managing, directing and actively partnering with outside counsel with respect to day-to-day file management, including the development and implementation of settlement, mediation, arbitration, or other dispute resolution strategies.
- Reporting on significant case developments and litigation trends to senior management and other internal stakeholders; maintaining regular communication with internal clients and consulting on file strategy.
- Providing hands-on management for certain high-profile matters in addition to managing external counsel across a broad spectrum of claims-related litigation/arbitration matters.
- Focusing on individual and 'book of business' issues, including choice of law/venue and policy terms and conditions with a portfolio view of exposures and opportunities to change the law on appeal.
- You will work closely and collaboratively with the UK, US and Europe & APAC Claims teams. You will interact regularly with the Underwriting, Legal, Compliance and Policy Wordings teams to enhance the 'Underwriting and Claims feedback loop'.
- You will also work closely with the Compliance team to ensure a consistent approach to wording interpretation on IDR claims.

You will report to the Global Head of Litigation, Claims.

**SHARE your talent**

We're looking for someone who has these abilities and skills:

- International coverage experience: track record of insurance coverage experience, including coverage litigation, arbitration and mediation gained at a top law firm.
- Legal credentials: Degree with high academic achievement and a practising certificate from an Australian State or Territory.
- Strongly Preferred: Significant experience advising on / handling insurance coverage litigation and claims.
- Preferred but not essential: Experience advising on / handling Reinsurance coverage litigation and claims.
- Preferred but not essential: In-house experience with a specialty (re)insurer and experience of managing litigation inside and outside Australia.
- Able to provide assistance with amending and drafting policy wordings from a legal perspective.
- Research and Analysis: Possessing the knack for complete and comprehensive researching while being able to deliver crisp, targeted and on-point analysis in a fast-paced environment.
- Leadership skills: Demonstrate courage. Coach, train, set expectations, evaluate and hold people accountable for delivering results in a highly matrixed environment. Change agent who can influence others across the organization.
- Drafting skills for both internal notes and external communications.
- Overseeing e-discovery as and when required.
- Cross Border Teamworking: ability to act independently as some internal claims handler colleagues may be base