Alph is the head of our Life Insurance, Superannuation and Financial Advice team.

Alph practices in life insurance, superannuation and related financial services with a focus on advising life insurers, superannuation trustees and financial advice licence holders in relation to all issues arising from the distribution, sale, administration and interpretation of life insurance cover and the related provision of financial advice. A big part of this practice involves acting for life insurers and trustees in policy disputes and financial advice licence holders in inappropriate/misleading/negligent advice claims in all courts and tribunals, in all Australian states and territories.

In addition, Alph has strong background in other areas of defendant statutory insurance including workers compensation (and related common law matters) and CTP litigation and is still active in these areas.

In terms of life insurance and superannuation, Alph has acted in many hundreds of life insurance disputes ranging from pre-contractual misrepresentation/avoidance issues to complex TPD assessments and everything in between. Most recently he was successful for AIA in the Sharma case before the Full Court of the Federal Court in early 2023, a ground breaking decision which established a pathway for later in time group insurers to avoid cover tainted by misrepresentation originally entered into with an earlier insurer.

Away from disputes, Alph regularly advises on the impact of all relevant legislation including the Insurance Contracts Act, the Corporations Act, the ASIC Act, SIS legislation and the Life Act on life insurance business. Through all this experience, Alph has developed a great understanding and feel for the commercial, statutory and technical complexities involved in resolving policy related roadblocks and problems within the life insurance and superannuation industries.

Aside from efficiently navigating life insurers and trustees through the challenging landscape that is the modern life insurance dispute, Alph always has his eye on the bigger commercial picture and specifically the importance of ensuring meticulous regulatory compliance within the multi-layered framework that governs financial services. This understanding has been shaped by Alph’s experience in conducting numerous large scale ASIC ordered ‘deep dive’ life claim reviews for his clients and advising a key banking client during the life insurance rubrics of the Hayne Royal commission.

As mentioned above, Alph also acts for financial advice licence holders in inappropriate/misleading/negligent advice claims (including for major banks) in both Court and AFCA proceedings and is highly skilled at getting to the heart of these disputes both in terms of liability and quantum assessment and providing timely and commercial advice with sensible and practical solutions rather than asking his client more questions.  

Away from specific client practice, Alph is an in demand speaker on insurance and is the founder of the ALUCA Turks Life Scholarship (ATLIS) which has been proudly unearthing great talent in the life insurance and related industries since 2007.