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Quality and consistency through collaboration

We are pleased to announce that Ryan Francis has joined our Casualty team as a Partner, effective 18 May 2026.

Ryan is an insurance partner specialising in product and public liability matters, including worker to worker injuries, with extensive experience across general lines of insurance and providing commercially-focused coverage advice.  He is highly skilled in commercial litigation and has deep expertise in complex liability disputes across a range of sectors, primarily in construction, manufacturing and retail. 

His work in these sectors includes acting for large manufacturing companies and national retailers in defending personal injury claims and managing allegations of product defects. Ryan also oversees a significant portfolio of matters for schools and faith-based organisations, advising on historical claims and a broad range of personal injury matters.

Ryan has been recognised in Best Lawyers in Australia for his expertise in Insurance Law and Litigation each year since 2019 and was recommended in Doyle’s Guide for public liability defendant lawyers in 2025.

Belinda Michalk, National Practice Group Leader for Casualty said, ‘We are pleased to welcome Ryan to our team. As a firm, we have ambitious growth plans in the area of public liability and personal injury and bringing on board a partner of Ryan’s calibre enables us to provide exceptional support to our clients.’

Ryan remarked, ‘It was important for me to join a firm known for its culture of collaboration and one with a clearly defined strategy for growth and success. Joining Sparke Helmore allows me to build on valued relationships in the industry, to provide a premium service to clients, and play a key role in growing the firm’s Casualty practice.’

Ryan joins us from Lander & Rogers and will be based in our Sydney office.

About Sparke Helmore

We’ve come a long way since our doors first opened in the Hunter in 1882.  We’ve had an office in Sydney since the ‘60s and we recently opened our tenth office in Cairns.

We cover six key areas of law – Corporate & Commercial, Commercial Insurance, Government, Property Environment & Finance, Statutory Lines of Insurance and Workplace – with more than 30 specialised areas of expertise. We’re a truly national, full service and proudly Australian firm that delivers results through deep collaboration with our clients. Wherever our clients need us, that’s where we’ll be.

Covering a big country needs a big team—we’re more than 1000 people now and still growing. And in true Australian spirit, we’re friendly, approachable and easy to work with. And when you work with one of us, you get the expertise of all of us.

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