CU people and places

Key Points:

2009 Alumni events

Following the success of our CU Link alumni functions in 2008 we held three CU Link events this year in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

This year we held cheese tasting events in-house and it was good to see familiar faces back in our offices.

Our Melbourne-based alumni enjoyed a fun night of tasting specially matured and ripened cheeses from the world-renowned Richmond Hill Café and Larder.

In Sydney, cheese expert Claudia McIntosh drew on her original and exceptional experiences abroad to lead our alumni through a tasting that represented the seven categories of the cheese world.

Darren Davis, one of Australia's leading young wine figures, took our Brisbane alumni on a journey through boutique handcrafted wines of the Barossa Valley along with some of Australia's farmhouse cheeses.

Thanks to everyone who attended the events, it's always great to catch up with our alumni and we look forward to seeing you next year.

We celebrate MOMENTUM launch

A large number of CU partners, lawyers, support staff and clients turned out to mark the official launch of MOMENTUM at a special function in Sydney on 17 September.

MOMENTUM aims to support women at Clayton Utz in building successful careers at the firm by promoting their professional and personal development as well as providing networking and relationship development opportunities.

MOMENTUM is not about lowering the bar for one gender. MOMENTUM is about creating an environment in Clayton Utz where people do fantastic work because they feel their contribution counts and they love working in a lively vibrant culture. That vibrant culture comes from a mix of men and women working successfully together.

Board director and former McKinsey and Company consultant Diane Grady was the guest speaker on the evening and impressed the audience with her insights, including that "women matter because they can help Clayton Utz create a happy, inclusive culture that the very best will want to join, where everyone is energised by the work and contributing their best, and where no-one will want to leave".

David Fagan said Clayton Utz was committed to creating a work environment that would maximise women's opportunities to succeed and advance in their careers. "MOMENTUM is an important part of our commitment to being an employer of choice for women so Clayton Utz continues to attract, retain, develop and promote Australia's most talented female lawyers."

Sports

Melbourne office shows support

On a freezing Sunday morning in June, a dedicated team of CU personalities raised their weary bones to take part in Run Melbourne.

The event was run over varying distances from half marathon to 10 or five kilometres with the opportunity to raise funds for a charity of the group's choice.

This year, funds were raised as part of Team Molinaro in support of our office chef Steve Molinaro and his current battle with cancer.

Once again the Melbourne office showed its supportive side and purchased $1,042 worth of raffle tickets.

Donations were also made directly to the team through the Run Melbourne website and overall Team Molinaro managed to raise a whopping $6,188 for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Hospital.

Peter MacCallum was delighted with our efforts as Team Molinaro was its number one fundraiser for the day.

Steve very much appreciated the efforts and said it was a great boost to his morale.

This was a great effort by all involved.

Brisbane lawyer victorious at Cricket World Cup

CU Brisbane Financial Services lawyer Jonathan Garforth is a newly crowned world champion after playing for Australia at the Lawyers' Cricket World Cup in Cambridge over two weeks in July and August.

Jono was one of 17 Australian lawyers selected to play for the Australian Lawyers' team, which included former Queensland and Australia A fast bowler Greg Rowell. The team was undefeated in the lead-up to the final, beating the West Indies, Sri Lanka, the English Barristers, India B and Pakistan. The final, held at the Main Oval in London (where the 5th Ashes test was just played), was a nail-biting match which saw Australia chase down India's 193 runs on the second last ball of the match.

It wasn't all about winning though. The tournament motto was "cricket for friendship" and we're told Jono lived up to this both on and off the field. The Australian team did likewise, donating its prize money to British charity, Chance to Shine.