Patrick McGrath
PartnerAbout Patrick
With more than 20 years' experience in insurance law and commercial litigation, Patrick acts for local and international insurers and large insureds, advising on complex coverage issues involving professional indemnity, D&O, management liability, public and products liability, recall expense, property and ISR, crime and cyber risk products.
Patrick manages medium to large-scale claims as defence counsel and in subrogated recovery actions, and has expertise in class actions as well as regulatory investigations and prosecutions. His clients highly rate his expertise across a number of insurance classes and his approach to seeking practical legal solutions.
For the past five years, Patrick has been included in the Insurance category of the Australian Financial Review's Best Lawyers list.
What he does
Patrick acts for local and international insurers as defence and coverage counsel as well as in subrogated recovery actions. He manages medium to large-scale claims, principally in the property and construction, retail and financial services sectors. He also advises insurers on complex coverage issues involving a range of insurance products, including professional indemnity, D&O, management liability, crime, public and products liability, property, product recall and cyber risk insurance.
Who he works with
Patrick works with Australian and UK-based insurers, underwriters, claims administrators and brokers.
What his clients say
Listed: Recommended for Commercial Insurance law - The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2018
Qualifications
Patrick has a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University, Melbourne. He was admitted to practice in Victoria in 1997 and as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2003.
Life before Sparkes
Before joining Sparke Helmore as a partner in 2016, Patrick was a partner in the general insurance group at Lander & Rogers, where he worked for 13 years. Before that, he spent six years at Baker & McKenzie in the commercial disputes teams in Melbourne and London, after starting his career at a Melbourne and Sydney based insurance firm in 1996.
Life outside of Sparkes
Patrick loves adventurous vacations with his wife and three kids - from sailing holidays in the Mediterranean to off-piste guided skiing in Asia, Europe and North America.
He has a love of languages, food, art, sport and culture and over the years has spent time living in England (Oxford/London), France (Montpellier), Italy (Lucca), Canada (Whistler) and the USA (Vail).
When he's not providing a taxi service to his children's sporting events on weekends, Patrick enjoys running and playing tennis.
