Marie-Clare Elder
PartnerAbout Marie-Clare
Marie-Clare joined the Commercial Insurance team as a partner in January 2024. Marie-Clare has been admitted to practice for 20 years and is a health law specialist, with a long history of working in the industry. She is based in Sydney.
What she does
Marie-Clare is a highly regarded lawyer with considerable experience in health, medical negligence, and personal injury litigation. Her 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.
Who she works with
Marie-Clare represents individual practitioners and health entities bringing a unique understanding and empathy, having previously practiced as a nurse.
Qualifications
A Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of New South Wales and Master of Laws, University of Sydney. In addition to being admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW and the High Court of Australia in 2004, Marie-Clare was admitted as a Solicitor in the United Kingdom in 2010.
Life before Sparkes
Prior to joining Sparke Helmore, Marie-Clare was a partner in private practice in Australia. Before entering private practice, Marie-Clare was the Senior Legal Counsel—Manager Legal Services at Medical Insurance Group Australia where she was responsible for leading the eastern seaboard team and as the General Counsel/Head of Legal Services for The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in the UK, delivering legal services to 6000 staff and the hospital executive.
Marie-Clare is a former clinical nurse specialist in intensive care.
Life outside of Sparkes
Outside of Sparkes Marie-Clare acts as a Director on the Boards of Barker College and The Daylight Foundation and lectures at the University of Sydney Medical School.
When she manages to get some downtime, you’ll find her at Balmoral Beach, wrangling her eight-year old son with a champagne in one hand and a trashy novel in the other. Marie-Clare is proud to be in charge of the wine and nibbles at her son’s Friday night 20/20 cricket matches – a contribution highly valued by the other parents. Despite her senior position at the cricket club, Marie-Clare has no knowledge or understanding of the game of cricket (including its rules, terms nor indeed its purpose). If you need your drink topped up though, she’s your girl!