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Partner, 2 special counsel join Sparke Helmore’s health practice
National law firm Sparke Helmore has moved to bolster its health practice group with the appointment of a new partner and two special counsel, who will serve in the firm’s Sydney and Adelaide offices.
Jerome Doraisamy
Sparke Helmore has appointed three senior lawyers to its health team: partner Marie-Clare Elder and special counsel Marie Panuccio and Lani Carter.
She is, Sparke Helmore said in a statement, a “highly regarded” lawyer with experience in health, medical negligence, and personal injury litigation, whose expertise includes medical negligence proceedings, coronial inquiries, disciplinary and regulatory matters, employment, impaired practitioner hearings, Medicare audits and reviews, privacy complaints and hospital inquiries and investigations.
Ms Panuccio has come across from Makinson d’Apice, where she worked for six and a half years. She specialises, Sparke Helmore outlined, in the defence of claims for professional negligence, disciplinary proceedings, coronial inquiries, and criminal matters on behalf of medical indemnity insurers, medical practitioners, nurses, and healthcare facilities.
Ms Carter – “a returning Sparkie” – has rejoined the firm after a near-two-year stint at Wotton + Kearney. She assists professional services specialists in defending claims made against them and regulatory complaints made to professional bodies and acts for medical and allied health professionals, lawyers, brokers, accountants, agents and builders across a wide spectrum of matters, including having advised on royal commissions and inquiries.
Ms Elder and Ms Panuccio will be based in Sparke Helmore’s Sydney office, while Ms Carter is based in Adelaide.
The news follows the firm’s addition of a partner from Holding Redlich for its Brisbane office back in July, its promotion of 28 lawyers to more senior roles in the same month, its addition of a partner from a Newcastle-based boutique in November, and its promotion of four lawyers to more senior roles in late January.
Speaking about the hires, Sparke Helmore health team leader and partner Kerri Thomas said: “Marie-Clare, Marie and Lani bring to the team a wealth of experience, expanding the depth and breadth of our truly national coverage and demonstrating Sparke Helmore’s unwavering commitment to the broader health sector both domestically and internationally.”
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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