Clayton Utz is an independent, top-tier

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

n law firm headquartered in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. Established in 1833, it is generally considered a leading law firm, and has been known as one of the " Big Six" Australian law firms. The firm is recognised for its strong litigation practice, government clients, pro bono services and high-profile alumni. In 2013, the firm had an annual revenue of $436 million. it had 179 partners and 1,600 personnel in six offices.

Operations

Legal services

Clayton Utz is a full-service law firm, and provides legal services in a wide variety of practice areas. The primary focus of the firm is in the realm of

commercial law Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branc ...

, although it has broad competence in a large number of practice areas. The firm manages the affairs of clients across

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...

s, and retains dual-qualified lawyers. It is a member of international legal networks such as Lex Mundi and the Pacific Rim Advisory Council.

Notable legal work

The firm has undertaken several high-profile matters including

Toll Holdings The Toll Group is an Australian-based subsidiary of Japan Post Holdings with operations in transportation, warehousing and logistics in road, rail, sea and air. It has two divisions; Global Forwarding, Global Logistics. History In 1888, A ...

' takeover of

Patrick Corporation Patrick Corporation is an Australian seaport operator with operations in Brisbane, Fremantle, Melbourne and Sydney. Formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, it is owned by Brookfield Asset Management and Qube Holdings. History P ...

Mayne Group Mayne Group was an Australian healthcare and logistics company. History Mayne Nickless was founded in Melbourne in 1886 by John Mayne and Enoch Nickless as a parcel delivery service. Within three months it was operating 10 horse drawn vans, by ...

's de-merger, and Tattersall's historic A$2.17 billion IPO and listing. The firm's corporate team has acted for AMP on its A$14 billion acquisition of

AXA Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The ...

Pacific Holdings and represented the

Singapore Exchange The Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) is a Singaporean investment holding company that provides different services related to securities and derivatives trading and others. SGX is also a member of the World Federation of Exchanges and the Asian ...

on its proposed merger with ASX. Notable clients of the firm include

Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services including retail, busine ...

, Noble Group,

Barrick Gold Barrick Gold Corporation is a mining company that produces gold and copper with 16 operating sites in 13 countries. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has mining operations in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Democra ...

and Fortescue Metals.

''Pro bono'' work

The firm provides

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

legal services supporting charities, non-profits, and vulnerable clients. The firm claims to average over 50 hours of pro bono work per lawyer at the firm. It employs two partners to run its pro bono practice, which was established in 1997. Although the firm is required to undertake a certain amount of pro-bono work to be eligible for government tenders, it is likely that it exceeds those requirements.

Social responsibility

In March 2010, the firm launched an action plan to reconcile with Indigenous Australians. The firm fully offsets its carbon emissions.

Controversies

McCabe v British American Tobacco

It has been alleged that the firm arranged for its clients to destroy legally damaging documents. These allegations arose out of a litigation brought by a smoker Rolah McCabe, against

British American Tobacco British American Tobacco plc (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, England. As of 2019, it is the lar ...

in 2002. The presiding judge for the trial found that Clayton Utz had enabled BAT to engage in a document retention policy which destroyed documents implicating the company. On appeal it was found that the firm's conduct was not unlawful. In reaction to the decision, Victorian laws about document retention were strengthened by parliament. In 2006 it was revealed that an internal investigation by Clayton Utz had implicated its partner; finding he had engaged in professional misconduct. That partner, Glenn Eggleton, was found to have given 'potentially perjurious' evidence, and to have taken advantage of McCabe's limited life expectancy while conducting the litigation. Eggleton denied these allegations. In the aftermath of the McCabe litigation Clayton Utz closed its tobacco claims practice.

Sexual harassment allegations

In 2011 Clayton Utz was sued in negligence for having failed to prevent sexual harassment at the firm. Emails had been circulated among graduate lawyers in the firm about another female graduate lawyer. Clayton Utz was found not liable, as the court did not find that its partners ought reasonably to have prevented the correspondence. The lawyer subject to the lawsuit resigned shortly after settlement of the suit.

Alumni

Notable alumni of the firm include: * Hector Clayton, Leader of the New South Wales Opposition in the Legislative Council.https://www.claytonutz.com/ArticleDocuments/178/Clayton-Utz-Celebrating-175-Years-2008.pdf.aspx *

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...

OM, AC, 25th

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the federal government of Australia and is also accountable to federal parliament under the princip ...

, from 1996-2007. *

Julie Bishop Julie Isabel Bishop (born 17 July 1956) is an Australian former politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2018 and deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2007 to 2018. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Curti ...

MP, 38th

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

. *

Christian Porter Charles Christian Porter (born 11 July 1970) is an Australian former politician and lawyer who served as the 37th Attorney-General of Australia from 2017 to 2021 in the Turnbull government and the subsequent Morrison government. He was a Me ...

MP, 37th

Attorney-General for Australia The Attorney-GeneralThe title is officially "Attorney-General". For the purposes of distinguishing the office from other attorneys-general, and in accordance with usual practice in the United Kingdom and other common law jurisdictions, the Aust ...

, former

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

and

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

. * Brigitte Markovic, Judge,

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...

. *

Anthony Fisher Anthony Colin Fisher (born 10 March 1960) is an Australian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church and a friar of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans). Since 12 November 2014, he has been the ninth Catholic Archbishop of Sydney. He served as the ...

, 9th Catholic Archbishop of Sydney. * Sir Anthony Frank Mason AC KBE GBM, 9th

Chief Justice of Australia The Chief Justice of Australia is the presiding Justice of the High Court of Australia and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Commonwealth of Australia. The incumbent is Susan Kiefel, who is the first woman to hold the position. C ...

. * Michael Andrew Wigney, Judge, Federal Court of Australia. *

Michelle Gordon Michelle Marjorie Gordon (born 19 November 1964) is a Justice of the High Court of Australia. She was appointed to the High Court in June 2015. Prior to her appointment, she was a Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, to which she was appoi ...

, Judge,

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established following passage of the '' Judiciary Act 1903''. ...

. * Frances Williams, Judge,

Supreme Court of Queensland The Supreme Court of Queensland is the highest court in the Australian State of Queensland. It was formerly the Brisbane Supreme Court, in the colony of Queensland. The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court allows its trial division to h ...

. * Doug Jones AO, RFD, Arbitrator and Judge, Singapore International Commercial Court. * Terence Cole, AO RFD KC, Jurist and

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Governmen ...

Royal Commissioner. * Hugh Fraser, Judge, Supreme Court of Queensland. *

Shan Tennent Shan Eve Tennent is a former Australian judge. She was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania between March 2005 and October 2017, and was the first woman to be appointed to the Court. Tennent studied law at the University of Queensland, s ...

, first woman to be appointed to the

Supreme Court of Tasmania The Supreme Court of Tasmania is the highest State court in the Australian State of Tasmania. In the Australian court hierarchy, the Supreme Court of Tasmania is in the middle level, with both an appellate jurisdiction over lower courts, and d ...

. * James Halliday, wine critic and vigneron. *

Anthe Philippides Anthe Ioanna Philippides was appointed as a judge on 14 December 2000 to the Supreme Court of Queensland, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of Queensland. Philippides has also served on the Mental Health Court and ...

, Judge, Supreme Court of Queensland. *

Kerry Shine Kerry Gerard Shine (born 5 October 1948) is an Australian Labor politician who was member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Toowoomba North from 2001 to 2012 and served as Attorney-General of Queensland from 2006 to 2009. He was el ...

, Queensland Attorney-General and founder of

Shine Lawyers Shine Lawyers is an Australian law firm specialising in personal injury compensation law, operating on a no win no fee basis. The firm has expanded into providing professional negligence, coal seam gas and aviation law legal services through a ...

. * Martin Daubney, Chancellor,

Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamatio ...

. * Paul Tottle, Judge,

Supreme Court of Western Australia The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of A$750, ...

Awards

Awards and recognition include: * Australian Law Firm of the Year, Chambers Asia-Pacific Awards (2018) * Attorney-General's Pro Bono Service Award, ACT Law Society Awards (2018) * Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year, Who's Who Legal (2019, 2020) * Most Innovative National Firm of the Year, International Financial Law Review (IFLR) Asia-Pacific Awards (2019, 2020) * Winner - Marsh Excellence in Employee Health and Wellbeing Award, Australasian Law Awards (2020) * Corporate Citizen Firm of the Year, Australasian Lawyer (2021) * Australian Law Firm of the Year, The Lawyers Global (2022)

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{Big Six Law firms established in 1833 Companies based in Sydney Australian companies established in 1833