Specialist insurance legal firm, BTLawyers, has announced the launch of three new practice areas to their Brisbane-based business with the addition of Employment Law, Family Law and Debt Recovery & Insolvency. The Employment Law practice provides an integrated service offering with the firm’s new joint venture HR/IR consultancy, BTS Accord.

BTLawyers Partner and Founder, Bruce Thomas, says that the addition of the new practice areas and BTS Accord leverage the firm’s proven dispute resolution and litigation skills into areas of legal practice that are in need of innovation and efficiency.

‘At BTLawyers, we manage more common law injury claims for employers and self-insurers in Queensland than any other firm, and have an unparalleled success rate at trial. We believe the very successful dispute resolution approach and discipline we have developed can be applied to other litigation, whether in family law, insolvency and debt recovery, or employment law. So it feels like a very natural extension of our business to expand into these new areas,’ said Thomas.

He also sees the growth of the business coming as a direct result of changes in the market.

‘It’s a challenging time for many businesses who require better value for their legal spend and a more responsive and integrated legal service. We’ve always provided fixed-fee solutions for our insurance clients, so by extending the same service offering into these new practice areas we can give our clients more certainty around their legal costs and better value.’

The Family Law practice is being led by Special Counsel Vanessa Hernandez, who has been working in Family Law since 2007, specialising in property, parenting, domestic violence and international matters. A Nationally Accredited Mediator, Vanessa’s focus is on assisting parties to resolve matters where possible without the need for court proceedings, and to de-escalate conflict when litigation is required.

‘As with all of our clients, we work with them to resolve their disputes before they get to court and this is particularly important when it comes to matters involving families. Vanessa works with clients to give them peace of mind – and our fixed fee model is a critical component of this,’ said Thomas.

Aamena Hussein heads up the Debt Recovery & Insolvency practice after recently returning from an eight-year stint in Sydney.

‘We’re excited to have Aamena on board to grow our Debt Recovery & Insolvency practice area. As well as working with Insolvency Practitioners, her focus will be on helping small businesses, companies, body corporates and government bodies to quickly resolve their debt recovery issues,’ Thomas said.

The firm’s new Employment, Industrial Relations and HR business arm BTS Accord has been established as a partnership between BTLawyers and John Salter, who joins the BTLawyers team with more than 25-years’ experience working in private sector manufacturing firms and for employer organisations.

‘In working with existing clients, we recognised that many need the practical industry based experience of a HR professional on their advisory team, supported by technical legal advice and representation as needed. This is a unique service offering, and ultimately why we established BTS Accord with John’, said Thomas.

‘John has proven experience across the full spectrum of HR and Industrial Relations services. In particular, he’s been highly successful in negotiating productivity based collective bargaining outcomes within labour intensive workplaces, overcoming common barriers such as differing agendas and personalities, which often derail a positive outcome.’

‘I’m delighted to welcome Vanessa, Aamena and John to BTLawyers during this exciting time of growth. We’re looking forward to bringing the benefits of our extensive experience, discipline and success in insurance disputes to our new practice areas.’

For more information, please contact Bruce Thomas.