Clayton Utz is an Australian law firm headquartered in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. Established in 1833, it is a large-sized firm, known as one of the big six Australian law firms. The firm is recognised for its litigation practice, government clients, ''pro bono'' services and high-profile alumni. In 2024, the firm had an annual revenue of $594 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

commercial law Commercial law (or business law), which is also known by other names such as mercantile law or trade law depending on jurisdiction; is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of Legal person, persons and organizations ...

, 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' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

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 Group The Toll Group is an Australian freight company that operates a logistics and global freight forwarding network spanning 150 countries, with over 20,000 customers. Toll has more than 16,000 workers across 500 sites. Toll Holdings Pty Limited ( ...

's takeover of

Patrick Corporation Patrick Corporation is an Australian seaport operator with operations in Port of Brisbane, Brisbane, Fremantle Harbour, Fremantle, Port of Melbourne, Melbourne and Port Botany (seaport), Sydney. Formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exch ...

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 Tatts Group's $2.17 billion

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

and listing. The firm's corporate team has acted for AMP on its $14 billion acquisition of

Axa Axa S.A. is a French multinational insurance corporation headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It also provides investment management and other financial services via its subsidiaries. As of 2024, it is the fourth largest financi ...

Pacific Holdings and represented the

Singapore Exchange Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX Group) is a Singapore-based exchange conglomerate, operating Equity (finance), equity, fixed income, currency and commodity markets. It provides a range of listing, trading, clearing, settlement, depository and ...

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

Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), also known as Commonwealth Bank or simply CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of fi ...

Noble Group Noble Resources Trading Holdings Limited (commonly known as Noble resources) is a commodity trader based in Hong Kong. It trades energy products and industrial raw materials. Its predecessor, Noble Group Ltd was embroiled in an accounting fraud ...

Barrick Gold Barrick Mining Corporation is a mining company that produces gold and copper. It has mining operations and projects in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Mali, Pakista ...

and Fortescue.

''Pro bono'' work

The firm provides ''

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

'' 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 p.l.c. (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products including electronic cigarettes. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, E ...

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. *

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. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

, 25th

prime minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

, from 1996-2007. *

Julie Bishop Julie Isabel Bishop (born 17 July 1956) is an Australian former politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Australia), Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2018 and Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia#Federal deputy leader ...

MP, 38th

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

. *

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 Mem ...

MP, 37th

Attorney-General for Australia The attorney-general of Australia (AG), also known as the Commonwealth attorney-general, is the Minister (government), minister of state and Attorney general, chief law officer of the Australia, Commonwealth of Australia charged with overseeing ...

, former

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

and

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. * Brigitte Markovic, Judge,

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court 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 indictable (mo ...

. *

Anthony Fisher Anthony Colin Fisher (born 10 March 1960) is an Australian prelate of the 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 third ...

, 9th Catholic Archbishop of Sydney. * Sir Anthony Frank Mason, 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 Stephen Gageler, since 6 November 2023. Constitutional basis Th ...

. * 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 the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...

. * 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 ...

. * Doug Jones, arbitrator and judge,

Singapore International Commercial Court The Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) was established on 5 January 2015. The idea to create the SICC was mooted by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon at the Opening of Legal Year 2013, with a key feature being the internationalisation of ...

. * Terence Cole, KC, Jurist and

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

Royal Commissioner. * Hugh Fraser, Judge, Supreme Court of Queensland. * Joe Catanzariti, Vice President of the Fair Work Commission. * Shan Tennent, 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. Together with the Magistrates Court, it forms the judiciary in Tasmania. In the Australian court hierarchy, the Supreme Court of Tasmania is in the mid ...

. * James Halliday, wine critic and vigneron. * Anthe Philippides, Judge, Supreme Court of Queensland. * Kerry Shine, Queensland Attorney-General and founder of Shine Lawyers. * 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 amalgamation ...

. * 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 or more ...

. * Yaseen Shariff, Judge, Federal Court of Australia. * Scott Goodman, Judge, Federal Court of Australia. * John Snaden, Judge, Federal Court of Australia.

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