Media release: Clayton Utz claims a spot in Australasian Lawyer's Innovative Firms 2020 list

Sydney, 15 June 2020: Legal industry title Australasian Lawyer has included Clayton Utz in its list of 2020 Innovative Firms - one of only 15 law firms nationally.

We were recognised for our commitment to fostering an innovation culture and mindset at CU, as well as initiatives such as:

• launching an industry-first Forensic & Technology Services (FTS) graduate program in partnership with Nuix to build the capability of our future FTS experts, with specialist training in data collection, data analytics, data rooms, cybersecurity, fraud investigations, forensic collections, infrastructure and security, financial analytics and innovation projects;
  
  
• developing a bespoke analytics model to help clients address any issues with underpayment of their employees, by identifying discrepancies between the company's enterprise agreements and the payment rules in their payroll systems;
  
  
• building a sophisticated regulatory dashboard tool, REMI, to give clients a high-level visibility of their engagement with regulators, responding to the problem of having a decentralised process with no single or consistent view or approach.

The Head of Innovation at Clayton Utz, Bernadette Stirling, said the firm's approach to innovation was grounded in training employees to have an innovation mindset, encouraging them to be curious about exploring new and better ways to do things. "That may not necessarily mean a technology-led solution, but a simple change to a process," she said. "We ultimately want to help the business and clients solve actual problems or challenges, rather than adopting a new piece of technology or system and calling that innovation."

Clayton Utz FTS national practice group leader Paul Fontanot said he was proud to see the firm recognised as being an industry leader in innovation. "As an FTS team, our focus is on identifying the problem to be solved, and working collaboratively with our clients to develop a solution that is tailored, practical and workable. That's how we ended up developing REMI, and other tools such as AcquiRE and our Provisor document management application, both of which have been internationally recognised."

He added: "Being included on the Innovative Firms list is great recognition for Clayton Utz, and shows that our approach to innovation is on the right track."