Hugh Irvine

Full Profile

Hugh is a Special Counsel in the Catastrophic Injury and Large Loss team. He regularly provides management of litigated and unlitigated claims on behalf of global and domestic insurers.

With a strong working knowledge of the law, Hugh provides bespoke advice on complex legal issues involving coverage, defence, dual insurance and recovery in a commercially conscious and clear way. He strives to gain an in-depth understanding of the nature of each client’s business and frequently obtains successful results through negotiated settlements or judgments.

Hugh’s practice includes a wide scope of contentious matters spanning across the areas of personal injury (fatality, catastrophic injury and mental harm), property damage (first party and third-party liability), intentional torts, professional indemnity, product liability and inquiries. Hugh has also assisted in acting as coverage and defence counsel in regulatory prosecutions of large multi-national entities. Hugh regularly appears in litigated claims across all jurisdictional levels including New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania.

Experience

• Acting on behalf of a national disability support provider in the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with a Disability which examined the role of service providers.
• Acting on behalf of a global construction company as its third party administrator in managing its entire global lability claims portfolio.
• Negotiating a successful multi-million-dollar recovery following a catastrophic warehouse fire.
• Negotiating a complete indemnity in favour of a construction company in a flooding incident at a major public hospital in Western Australia.
• Successfully overturning five default judgments in the Supreme Court of Tasmania arising from claims against a business involving a complex family holding trust.