Full Profile
Wayne has been with Clyde & Co since 1997 and worked across three different continents during this time. In 2001, Wayne moved to the Middle East to assist with establishing a specialist re/insurance practice for the Firm across the GCC region. The team now comprises nine partners providing specialist advice across all business lines, for contentious and non-contentious work, covering the entire Middle East region. Wayne became a partner in 2005 and was responsible for establishing the Firm’s Abu Dhabi office between 2004 to 2009. More recently, his focus has shifted to assisting the Firm establish its re/insurance practice across the wider Africa region.
Wayne is a recognised specialist for insurance and reinsurance work, and has a broad regional practice advising local and foreign insurance interests on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious matters, across the GCC and wider Middle East region. In addition to claims, coverage and subrogated recovery work, in recent years Wayne has been increasingly involved in a wide range of regulatory work across the GCC, including in the specialist financial centres (DIFC and QFC), dealing with local regulators and government bodies. He has also led the legal teams in advising several GCC governments on the planning and implementation of healthcare financing arrangements.
His experience in emerging jurisdictions is now being put to use to assist in building the Firm’s re/insurance offering across Africa.
Wayne has been a frequent speaker at regional insurance market events and a regular contributor to industry publications. He is recognised by both Legal 500 and Chambers directories as a stand-out practitioner in the industry.
Wayne is the Chair of the Firm’s Pro Bono and Social Impact Steering Group and is actively involved in co-ordinating the Firm’s activities globally as part of its Responsible Business programme.
Experience
- Acting for international insurers in the establishment of several regional health insurance schemes across the GCC and wider Africa region
- Managing a portfolio of notifications and claims on behalf of international reinsurers in respect of Covid-19 Business Interruption losses across the Middle East
- Advising international reinsurers on re/insurance issues arising for the Beirut Port blast in August 2020
- Leading a successful subrogation action to recover market losses of US$50m following a significant fatal shopping mall fire
- Leading the legal teams advising several GCC governments on the planning and implementation of healthcare financing reforms, including drafting the implementing regulations for the Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Qatar compulsory health insurance schemes
- Assisting numerous insurance entities with their authorisation in the DIFC, QFC and Central Bank of Bahrain, including the first Lloyd’s Syndicate to be registered in the DIFC and the first insurance broker in the QFC
- Successful mediation of several complex multi-jurisdictional reinsurance proceedings across the wider Middle East region
- Acting in the successful defence of multiple medical negligence cases in the UAE and Saudi Arabia
- Defending life insurers against policyholder claims in the UAE
- Undertaking insurance and reinsurance policy drafting and reviews, and dealing with policy approvals of Arabic translations before regional regulators
- Co-author of Double Insurance chapter in Insurance Disputes (LLP Publishing, 1999, 2003 and 2011).
