Law firm Wotton + Kearney has made 23 senior promotions in Australia and New Zealand, including five new partners, taking its tally of dedicated insurance lawyers to 230.

The new partners are Krissy Vale and Meisha Tjiong in Sydney, Chris Spain in Melbourne, Luke Vincent in Perth and Peter Coggins in Brisbane.

The firm also made many special counsel and senior associate promotions and named a dozen lawyers to be associates to ensure a “solid pipeline of future senior talent across the firm”.

Ms Vale is a member of the Property, Construction & Energy team and has experience spanning multi-billion-dollar settlements arising out of natural catastrophes through to complex construction and energy claims.

Ms Tjiong joins the 18-partner local general liability team. Her focus is on public and product liability claims as well as legacy and sensitive claims.

Mr Spain has a dual focus on the health sector and workplace claims and has managed liability claims in the health, aged care, education, disability and welfare sectors.

Mr Vincent relocates to Perth to lead the firm’s financial lines team. He advises on complex coverage issues and professional indemnity defence work.

Mr Coggins will lead the Brisbane property team, focussing on first party property claims across industrial special risk and contract works, as well as third party property claims and subrogated recoveries.