TurksLegal managing partner Peter Turk said McSpadden’s appointment comes at a “critical time” with the passing of the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment Bill earlier this year.

“Her knowledge and experience will play an important role in ensuring our clients successfully implement the challenging and far-reaching workers compensation reforms,” he said.

Despite an all-female promotions line-up, Turk maintained that the firm is a meritocracy. “We didn’t start the promotion process with the sole objective of promoting women only,” he said.

“The reality is that gender has never been an influencing factor when determining who will be promoted at TurksLegal,” he added.

A quarter of TurksLegal’s partners, and more than 60 per cent of its senior associates, are female.

Melissa Godfrey, one of the recently promoted senior associates, is expecting her first child and will be taking maternity leave shortly. Turk said Godfrey’s promotion acknowledges her valued position at the firm.

In addition to Godfrey, TurksLegal has promoted Stephanie Wigan (employer liability), Fiona Reynolds (corporate & commercial) and Priya Fernandopulle (general insurance) to senior associate positions.