Joan Williams, Senior Associate at Moray & Agnew in Newcastle, has been awarded Specialist Accreditation in Personal Injury Law from the Law Society of New South Wales.

Specialist accreditation is a structured peer-to-peer assessment process enabling legal practitioners to be recognised for their expertise. To gain status as an Accredited Specialist a lawyer must pass rigorous assessments in communication, problem solving, client relations, as well as their specialist area of law. Each year the Law Society runs the accreditation program for a select number of areas of law.

Joan comments, “The Specialist Accreditation course was hard work! But it was really worthwhile. It’s a fantastic way of reinforcing my existing knowledge, but also of expanding into some areas I didn’t know so well. As always, it’s humbling to be recognised by my peers in the profession and to be counted amongst the ranks of accredited specialists within Moray & Agnew, which houses some truly exceptional lawyers.”

Specialist Accreditation Chair, Richard Harvey, said: “Specialist Accreditation is held by less than 6% of the profession here in New South Wales. We are proud that Specialists Accreditation is such a rigorous process and getting accredited is just the start. When a specialist retains their accreditation year on year their clients know the value of the advice they receive.”

Joan’s expertise focuses on public liability, product liability and professional indemnity claims arising from diverse circumstances, ranging from ‘slip and falls’, through to injuries on worksites involving multiple defendants and complex questions of indemnity and dual insurance, and injury and damage from defective products and professional practices. Her broad experience includes working for a time with the Australian Federal Police’s legal team in Canberra.

Sean O’Sullivan, Managing Partner (Newcastle), says, “We’re very proud of Joan’s achievement, which is testament to her exceptional skills, talent and hard work. The Law Society’s specialist accreditation program consists of meticulous assessments on both legal knowledge and its application in practice. Joan joins her colleagues Kim Ebbeck, Alwyn Gillis, Matt Huckerby, Mark Malley, Cathy Pares and Erin Woodward to achieve accreditation in this specialist area. In fact, Moray & Agnew’s Newcastle office boasts over 30% of all personal injury Accredited Specialists in the Newcastle region.”