Most Influential Lawyers profile: Danielle Snell

Danielle Snell is one of Australia’s star litigators who established her own dynamic litigation firm after 15 years of top and mid-tier practice. She specialises in commercial and insurance litigation and media law.

A born litigator, Danielle has acted on many high-profile cases and represents a diverse range of clients including directors, executives, shareholders, professionals, parliamentary officials, public figures, companies and associations. She is known for acting in multi-party legal proceedings, complaints, investigations and inquiries in all jurisdictions. Danielle has a high success rate of settling cases prior to trial due to her ability to navigate the expectations of various stakeholders in litigation, strategise and negotiate smart commercial outcomes.

Danielle is one of Australia’s only litigators with extensive experience acting for major Australian and international insurers that can also act against insurance companies on behalf of business and individual policy holders. She also has a special interest in professional negligence and women’s rights.

Solving conflict issues through collaboration with other lawyers is another of Danielle’s key strengths. Danielle has become the ‘go to’ litigator for conflict referral matters due to her ability to collaborate and look after other lawyers’ clients in circumstances where conflict issues arise.

Born out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Danielle’s firm challenges the traditional law firm model in order to provide a transparent and authentic legal service to clients. Danielle believes that people involved in litigation should be at the centre of solutions and it’s about the journey for them during the litigation process rather than only the outcome. It is for that reason that Danielle’s firm has superior efficiency in e-litigation and offers clients a web-enabled client portal to allow them to directly connect with their litigation file 24/7.

Issues of Diversity, Inclusion & Equality in the legal sector are important to Danielle. She is a wife, mother, friend and professional who was pregnant as the time she decided to create an entrepreneurial firm that promotes a new way of servicing clients and embraces the unexpected freedoms of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Danielle was recently named by Lawyerly Media as a ‘Litigation Rising Star’ in recognition of her successes in high-stakes litigation that belie her age. Danielle’s firm, Elit Lawyers by McGirr & Snell, is a finalist in the Lawyers Weekly inaugural awards for ‘NewLaw Firm of the Year’.

Danielle’s profile page on the Australasian Lawyer website can be found here.

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Danielle Snell

CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER

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Robert McGirr

CO-FOUNDER & PARTNER

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"Danielle guided us through the entire process with confidence and transparency, ensuring we always felt informed and supported."

Insurance Law

Plaintiff

We had an outstanding experience working with Danielle. From the very beginning, she demonstrated exceptional professionalism, clear communication, and a genuine understanding of our situation. She guided us through the entire process with confidence and transparency, ensuring we always felt informed and supported.

What truly stood out was her ability to achieve a fast resolution while securing the exact outcome we were hoping for. Her expertise and strategic approach made a stressful situation significantly easier to manage.

Equally impressive was Danielle’s compassion and friendliness. She took the time to listen, showed real empathy, and made us feel like more than just another case. We always felt valued and reassured

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"Danielle kept me well-informed and involved, ensuring I was aware of all my options throughout the legal process"

Insurance Law

Plaintiff

Danielle Snell and the Elit Lawyers team acted for me on a high value insurance claim after insurers denied me all cover after my aircraft was damaged during the filming of a Hollywood movie. Given that insurers denied me all cover and offered to pay zero, with Danielle and team’s guidance, I issued proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria – Insurance List against the insurers involved. Danielle kept me well-informed and involved, ensuring I was aware of all my options throughout the legal process.

This was a stressful period for me, but I always felt confident and supported . I was happy to resolve the case prior to trial which involved a pay-out by the insurers. I felt confident to take on the insurers with the representation and support of Elit Lawyers and it proved to be the right move as I was ultimately paid out under my policy which was very different to the insurer’s original decision to pay me nothing.

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"Within days, the podcast episode was removed and I was also given an apology, undertaking and some payment towards my legal costs"

Defamation – CEO

Plaintiff

I highly recommend Danielle and her team to anyone needing to fight defamation matters, they achieve results! I was defamed on a podcast which was published on various forums. The Elit team prepared detailed Concerns Notices to the original publisher and also to the podcast operator and other forums the podcast was published on.  Within days, the podcast episode was removed and I was also given an apology, undertaking and some payment towards my legal costs. Thank you to the Elit team for helping me with this personal matter.

– CEO 

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"On advice from Danielle and Mark, I sued the insurer in the Federal Court Insurance List and a settlement was reached within a couple of months!"

Insurance Law

Plaintiff

One night, thieves broke into my home through the garage and stole my car whilst my wife and kids and myself were all in the house. They then abandoned and set the car on fire, resulting in a total loss. My insurance claim was denied because the car was parked in the driveway instead of the garage. On advice from Danielle and Mark, I sued the insurer in the Federal Court Insurance List and a settlement was reached within a couple of months!

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"Aggie kept me well informed at every step and her supportive and approachable manner made a very stressful period in my life far easier to navigate."

Family Law – Property

Plaintiff

I’m very thankful that my financial planner referred me to Aggie Vlahos. She guided me through negotiating, documenting and completing my family law property settlement with my ex. Aggie kept me well informed at every step and her supportive and approachable manner made a very stressful period in my life far easier to navigate. Would absolutely recommend.

 

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"I was grateful for Aggie’s expert advice, patience, and support during my family law court case"

Family Law

Plaintiff

Aggie acted for me in relation to my litigated family law matter – during an intense and difficult time in my life.  I was grateful for Aggie’s expert advice, patience, and support during my family law court case which we were able to resolve positively at mediation. I would strongly recommend Aggie and her team to anybody needing legal assistance with their family law matter.

 

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