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About Sha Hotchin
- Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law
- 16+ years acting for injured Victorians
- Advice in English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi
The lawyer who will actually run your claim
Before founding Hotchin Gupta Lawyers, Sha built her reputation at some of Australia’s largest national law firms. There she led teams of advocates and managed complex, high-stakes litigation. She now brings that institutional-grade legal strategy to a practice small enough that the person who assesses your claim is the person who runs it.
Taking on a major insurer requires precision and sustained pressure. Sha practises exclusively in personal injury law because the schemes are technical, the deadlines are unforgiving, and the system is structured in a way that can overwhelm someone who is also trying to recover. She cannot take away the physical pain of an injury. What she can do is remove the legal and financial burden that comes with it.
Her approach combines uncompromising litigation against insurers with genuine empathy for the people and families she represents. Clients consistently describe the same two things: that she explains matters in a way they can follow, and that she is straight with them about what their claim is worth.
— Sha Hotchin
- Admitted to practise in Victoria in 2010. B. Laws, B. Media, LLB.
- Accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law since 2017. Assessed and accredited by the Law Institute of Victoria.
- 16 years in Victorian injury claims. WorkCover, TAC and superannuation TPD, including serious injury litigation.
- Fluent in English and Hindi. Proficient in Urdu and Punjabi.
- Founder and Principal Lawyer, Hotchin Gupta Lawyers, Bundoora.
What “Accredited Specialist” actually means
Accreditation is not automatic and it is not granted on length of service alone. A lawyer must apply, demonstrate substantial practice in the relevant area, and pass assessment before the Law Institute of Victoria will accredit them. Accreditation is maintained rather than granted once, so it reflects current practice rather than a qualification earned years ago and never revisited.
Sha was admitted to practise in Victoria in 2010 and was accredited as a specialist in personal injury law in 2017. The seven years between those two dates is the point: accreditation follows years of practice in the area, not the other way round. She has now held it for nine years.
The practical point for you is simple. It means the person handling your claim has had their expertise in this specific area tested by the professional body that regulates them, rather than asserted on a website. If you are comparing firms, it is a credential you can check.
Specialist, not generalist
Sha practises exclusively in personal injury. She does not also run conveyancing, family law or commercial matters, so the schemes and their case law are the whole job rather than one part of it.
Tested, not asserted
Accreditation requires assessment by the Law Institute of Victoria. It is a credential you can verify with the professional body rather than take on trust from a marketing page.
Current, not historic
Accreditation is maintained, not granted once. Sha has held it continuously since 2017, so it reflects a lawyer practising in the area now rather than one who qualified in it at some point in the past.
Your case. Your lawyer. From start to finish.
At many large firms it is standard practice for a senior partner to sign you up, then hand your file to a rotating team of junior lawyers, paralegals and legal assistants. You end up re-explaining your story every time you call, to someone who has read the file but was not there for the conversation that shaped it.
Hotchin Gupta was built on the opposite arrangement.
No hand-offs
The lawyer at your first consultation is the lawyer who manages your claim, negotiates with the insurer and represents you in settlement discussions.
Direct access
When you have a question or need an update, you speak to the lawyer running your claim. No gatekeepers, no call centre.
Specialist on your file
Your claim is not a training exercise for junior staff. It is run personally by an Accredited Specialist who knows the detail of your situation.
A cohesive strategy
Because one lawyer holds the whole matter from day one, nothing is lost in the handover, because there is no handover.
It is a deliberate constraint on how many matters the practice takes at once. That is the trade-off, and we think it is the right one.
Advice in the language you think in
Navigating medical and legal systems is daunting enough in your first language. Proud of her Indian heritage, Sha is fluent in English and Hindi, and is proficient in Urdu and Punjabi.
That matters more than it might sound. Describing pain accurately is difficult, and a great deal in an injury claim turns on how symptoms are described to doctors and recorded in reports. Being able to explain what happened in your own language, and have the legal strategy explained back to you the same way, changes how well a claim is built.
Whatever the language, Sha prides herself on communicating clearly enough to be understood without a legal background.
The claims Sha runs
WorkCover
Acting for injured workers against WorkSafe agents to protect income and medical funding, and to secure common law damages alongside statutory benefits.
WorkCover claimsTAC & motor vehicle accidents
Securing statutory benefits and litigating complex serious injury common law claims following transport accidents.
TAC claimsSuperannuation TPD
Unlocking high-value insurance policies held inside superannuation for clients who are permanently unable to work.
TPD claimsIf you are in Melbourne’s north, we have detailed local pages for WorkCover claims in Bundoora and Epping and TAC claims in Bundoora and Epping.
Guides Sha has published
Costs & fees
No win, no fee explained
What the phrase actually covers, uplift fees, disbursement funding, and what you may still owe if a claim is unsuccessful.
Read the guideCosts & fees
What a WorkCover claim costs
Fixed-price packages stage by stage, what the insurer contributes, and what actually comes out of your compensation.
Read the guideWorkCover
When should you speak to a lawyer?
The points in a claim where advice changes the outcome, and the deadlines that quietly close options if you wait.
Read the guideMore guides from Sha are in the Knowledge Centre, including what each claim type actually costs.
What clients say
“Sha gave me sound information that I found useful. Very impressed with her knowledge and they articulated the information in a way I could understand.”
Paula L. · Google
“An exceptional lawyer who consistently goes above and beyond. She is a strong advocate who works tirelessly for her clients.”
Afsha S. · Google