In a bid to diversify its membership, the Australian Insurance Law Association (AILA) has introduced a new membership category for insurance industry professionals outside the legal community.
Industry representatives – including brokers, insurers, claims managers, reinsurers, and risk managers – can now join AILA at a reduced price of $50 (including GST).
Cameron Roberts, national president of the AILA and a partner at Thomson Geer in Melbourne, said that the aim was to encourage greater membership outside insurance lawyers and “enhance networking opportunities between the insurance industry and lawyers.”
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“When I became national president 18 months ago, my goal was to better serve the entire insurance industry, not just insurance lawyers,” he said. To that end, Roberts sought to increase AILA’s value to industry members by reducing the cost of joining and increasing the advantages of membership.
That has been achieved through the significant reduction in the membership cost for industry members, as well as the offering of complimentary membership in the New Zealand Insurance Law Association (NZILA) to all AILA members.
“The agreement with NZILA adds to many other initiatives implemented to increase the advantages of AILA membership, including mandatory membership price differentials, the Gill Award – which offers a $10,000 prize – and moving to webinar presentations.”
Roberts said the reciprocal membership arrangement with NZILA would also encourage greater involvement in each organisation’s activities.
“With so many events being held via webinars, AILA and NZILA members can participate more easily in each other’s events and pay only member rates,” he said.
