The 'key' role insurance lawyers will play in 2026 and beyond

There is, one BigLaw partner says, a "huge amount of opportunity" looking ahead for practitioners in the insurance space, from finding solutions to the risk of natural disasters to the management of cyber threats.

In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Clayton Utz partner Sophy Woodward about why insurance law is so engaging at this point in time, the "soft market" currently being experienced and the opportunities that climate presents for better terms for clients, what's surprised her about the insurance space this past year, and how client expectations have been set higher in 2025.

Woodward also discusses how insurance lawyers have to collaborate across practice areas more than ever before, managing team dynamics and wellness at a time of voluminous work and change, the need for creativity in contractual clauses, the ripple effects coming from current developments in the cyber space and natural disaster space, the myriad opportunities on the horizon, and why emerging practitioners should consider insurance law as a vocational pathway.

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