We spoke with Peter Ryan, who was a Special Counsel in our Statutory Insurance Victoria team from 2016-2017. Peter left the firm to go to the Bar, and then moved into in-house legal roles. For the past three-and-a-half years, Peter has worked as Director Legal Services and Chief Legal Officer at Monash Health – a role he describes as a ‘great privilege’. Peter spoke to us about his career journey and his passion for social insurance.
My career story...
I have always enjoyed advocacy, so I went straight to the Bar from articles, and built a busy litigation practice over the next nine years. The TAC was doing great things with in-house legal practice so I went there to learn about personal injuries, and never looked back. I ended up as Senior Legal Counsel at the TAC and later WorkSafe Victoria, from where I left to join the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority. The VMIA was an amazing experience; as Executive General Manager Insurance Services I was responsible for underwriting and reinsuring the State’s insurable risks and residual uninsured historical liabilities. I was fortunate enough to undertake liability reinsurance presentations to Asian and European markets following Black Saturday and the years of floods that followed in its path, as well as the catastrophe property programs, Professional Indemnity, Fine Arts and railway infrastructure. I loved my time at Hall & Wilcox assisting to build the Victorian Government practice. I have been privileged to be at Monash Health as Director Legal Services and Chief Legal Officer for the last 3 1/2 years.
A typical day at work for me is…
There is no such thing! We are really at the coalface here, and you never know what is going to happen next. Or at what hour of the day or night your phone might ring. We operate over 60 sites, we have over 21,000 employees and millions of patient events each year, so the depth and breadth of the legal portfolio is endless. My team also manages FOI, release of health information, Board Secretariat and Insurance and Assurance, and I’m the Chief Privacy and the Chief Fraud Officer. There is never a dull moment.
The thing that makes me get out of bed and go to work each morning is…
I’m privileged to work at Monash Health. It is an amazing place. I’m very fortunate to work with professionals who are so dedicated to caring for our patients and improving the lives of Victorians. There’s a poster outside my office that says ‘Kindness Lives Here’, and it really does.
I’m also passionate about…
Social insurance. In the TAC, WorkSafe and the VMIA, Victoria has the best social insurance framework in the world, particularly for catastrophic injuries and losses. State insurance arrangements have achieved great things, with the resolution of the Black Saturday actions, ongoing compensation for asbestos sufferers, and survivors of child abuse within defunct state funded institutions and keeping medical indemnity coverage for public hospitals out of the private sector. Our no-fault schemes are second to none. I do think though that we could do much more, and that we will have to do so in the future. Covering private sector gaps in insurance coverage for sexual abuse, including abuse committed by medical professionals on their patients, is one such example. Climate change is also affecting the viability of insurance markets, and State insurance should play an active role in aggregating otherwise unattractive or toxic risks to protect Australians against external market shocks.
The best bit of advice given to me was …
To leave the Bar! An eminent QC who later went to the Supreme Court suggested that I had to choose between life as an advocate, and life with my family. I don’t know whether the choice was in fact as stark as he said, but I did leave the Bar and I have never regretted doing so, for the wonderful experiences I have had since then, and all the great professionals I have met along the way.
The best part of my role is…
Knowing that you are making a real contribution each day to improving people’s lives and supporting better public health service delivery to Victorians. It’s a great privilege.
My most memorable Hall & Wilcox moment was…
I strongly recall that when I started, I was struck by how the lunch, breakout and work areas were so beautifully done, and that the staff areas were just as good as the front office and client meeting rooms. You don’t see that often at all, if anywhere. In that first week I realised how Hall & Wilcox was a place that really cared about its people. I remember saying that this was a place that I’d be happy for my children to work at, which is as strong an endorsement as any!