Insurance and risk law firm Wotton + Kearney (W + K) has enhanced its workplace practice by appointing Laura Gavan as a partner in Melbourne.
Gavan (pictured) joined from HWL Ebsworth Lawyers and will lead W + K’s employment law team in the city.
Gavan brings over 11 years of experience in workplace relations and safety law, with expertise in employment termination, post-employment restraint, and confidential information litigation.
She has experience in litigation across various courts and commissions and has provided strategic legal advice to clients across multiple sectors on employment, industrial relations, and work health and safety matters.
“We are thrilled to welcome Laura to our firm and our workplace team,” said Chris Mossman, head of workplace at W + K. “Laura is a highly regarded practitioner in the employment and industrial relations space, with a wealth of experience and a strong reputation in the market. She will be a valuable addition to our team and will enhance our offering to our clients in this important and evolving area of law.”
“I am excited to join Wotton + Kearney and to be part of a dynamic and growing firm that is focused on delivering exceptional service and outcomes to its clients,” Gavan said. “I look forward to contributing to the firm’s success.”
The appointment aligns with W + K’s recent expansion initiatives. Earlier this year, the firm announced its entry into the Asian market and launched an aviation practice headed by special counsel James Cooper.
Additionally, the firm has adopted an AI solution tailored for the legal sector.
W + K has become the first Australian law firm to implement Cicero, a private generative AI tool developed specifically for the Australian legal industry by Automatise.
Cicero, which launched in May, ensures all firm data is stored securely onshore and remains private, with no third-party processing. It leverages large language models (LLMs) from Meta and Mistral AI, customised for Australian legal applications, to produce thorough summaries and analyses of legal documents.
“This AI solution will be a gamechanger for our lawyers and clients,” said David Kearney, chief executive partner at Wotton + Kearney. “We all want our information to be absolutely secure, and this is the first private legal AI solution that allows us to do that.”
He said that the AI tool aims to boost the efficiency of the firm’s legal services by cutting down the time and cost associated with document review and analysis.
“Automatise is a trusted partner in the execution of our AI strategy, and Cicero has the potential to be a game-changer for the legal industry. The platform provides enhanced security and caters to the sensitive needs of both the firm and our clients, ensuring compliance with current and evolving legislative requirements. It will also enable us to work smarter, by empowering our lawyers to focus on what they do best – delivering the best advice to our clients,” Kearney said.
“We are delighted to partner with Wotton + Kearney as an early adopter to develop and implement Cicero, a private and secure option for law firms looking to leverage generative AI,” said Joseph Rayment, managing director of Automatise. “Cicero has been purpose built to assist in both litigation and non-litigation workflows, helping investigations by finding critical documents that support or break case theories, draft chronologies, and perform both high level and detailed summarisations and text extractions of documents in active matters.
“Wotton + Kearney’s steadfast commitment to their clients’ privacy, to data sovereignty, and data protection standards aligns precisely with our offering from a values perspective, and we look forward to continuing our partnership to explore how we can continue to enhance the firm’s legal services and client experience.”
Charles Simon, managing partner of casualty & operations at Wotton + Kearney, highlighted the firm’s investment in AI over the past year.
“AI is a primary focus of our firm’s innovation and transformation strategy, and we have been taking a broad and multifaceted approach. We are looking at opportunities to buy existing AI tools, build our own AI muscle, and partner with existing and emerging tech vendors,” he said. “New technology is not without its challenges, and our focus is on ensuring privacy and security as well as how to safeguard client data in the best way possible.”
