COLLIN BENTLEY
Special Counsel
Admission date
April 2003
Professional Experience
Collin commenced with Lee & Lyons as a Special Counsel in September 2008.
Before his admission in 2003, Collin worked for a number of domestic and foreign insurers handling financial lines, professional indemnity and public and products liability claims.
Since his admission in April 2003, Collin continued to work for one of the world's largest insurers dealing with complex financial lines claims, professional indemnity, employment practices liability and public and products liability claims. In 2006 Collin worked as a claims manager based in Sydney for a major Swiss reinsurer and in 2007/2008. Collin was transferred to the Beijing office for that Company.
Collin has more than ten years experience in the field of professional indemnity insurance claims management and has experience with claims and policy disputes under professional indemnity, directors and officers liability, trustees liability, and general and products liability / first party liability losses. He has several years of experience dealing with proportional and non-proportional facultative and treaty reinsurance (particularly casualty specialty excess of loss lines). Most recently, he was responsible for overseeing a team of Claims Handlers dealing with a property and casualty portfolio of reinsurance claims in Hong Kong, Taiwan and PRC.
Some examples of Collin's experience include:
Financial Lines
- Dealing with several professional indemnity claims against financial advisers involving 50 - 100 investors.
- Matters involving employee frauds committed on two major Korean Banking institutions.
- The investigation and settlement of a substantial employee theft claim involving a major local financial institution.
- Extensive experience of professional indemnity claims brought against financial advisers, real estate agents, architects and accountants.
- Acting as monitoring counsel for an insurer in US based policy coverage dispute.
General & Products Liability
- Managed claims involving litigation in California arising from catastrophic personal injury under umbrella liability cover.
- Managed and advised reinsurers and insurers on handling product liability litigation in US involving PRC based manufacturers.
- Advising an insurer on an extensive loss involving an insured in the food manufacturing industry.
Reinsurance
- Managing a portfolio of Professional Indemnity and D&O reinsurance claims on behalf of a global reinsurer involving several Australian and New Zealand based direct insurers.
- Investigating, mediating and settling a complex Australian based facultative reinsurance matter with local and Singapore based clients.
- Investigating and coordinating reinsurance aspects of major catastrophic event losses in the PRC for a global reinsurer.
Professional and other relevant memberships
- Law Society of New South Wales
- Australian Insurance Law Association
- Australian Professional Indemnity Group