Laina conducts herself with integrity. Laina is, in my view, a practitioner worthy of note, her capable intelligence has made her a trusted sounding board for myself and my team. She has acted for Berkley Insurance Australia on many occasions both in NSW and Western Australia in contested hearings. Her consistent diligence, integrity and intellectual honesty is what sets her apart from average. She willingly goes the extra mile, recently where an error had been made in cover provided Laina focused on the result to ensure that our valued insured clients and ourselves both receive an exceptional resolution of a very difficult circumstance.

As part of our standard process when denying indemnity for claims, to ensure transparency and fairness we instruct Senior Counsel to provide an advice. Notwithstanding the fact that Laina has not yet been elevated to Senior Counsel she is often Counsel of choice instructed to review contested denials of policy coverage and is required to provide a written advice on this that may be provided to our insured. Her advices when reviewing policy coverage are carefully considered, written in plain English, well researched, with on point references to the law whilst also exhibiting a common sense and practical approach to policy construction. Importantly her views are given without fear or favour. To put this in perspective Berkley Insurance’s declinature policy is to prefer Counsel’s advice even if it is against our decision at first instance to deny cover.

Laina is a skilled negotiator. Laina willingly collaborates with colleagues where required and brings to the table her training from Harvard Business School to achieve negotiated outcomes that are favourable to each participant. Her negotiation skills add another dimension to her toolkit and definitely lead to positive outcomes for all stakeholders that I had not thought possible.