Sydney, 30 March 2011: Clayton Utz welcomes the launch last night of the inaugural Australian Legal Sector Alliance (AusLSA) Annual Report - the first major step towards encouraging a collaborative approach to sustainability by Australian law firms.
The AusLSA report, which provides a comparative analysis of the carbon footprint of participating law firms, was officially launched at a function in Sydney last night by the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull MP.
Clayton Utz's Chief Operating Officer and AusLSA Board Member Stuart Clark, who attended the launch, said the AusLSA report was a significant step towards improving the sustainability practices of Australia's legal sector, and congratulated participating firms on their involvement.
"Clayton Utz believes a combined sector-wide effort is the best approach to promoting and achieving best practice in sustainability. The AusLSA report will be a valuable resource for Australia's legal sector in developing best practice sustainability guidelines. We commend all member firms for demonstrating transparency and true leadership in this important area and strongly encourage other Australia law firms to join the alliance," said Mr Clark.
"As one of Australia's largest law firms, Clayton Utz is committed to initiatives that will help reduce our carbon footprint. That's one of the reasons we have chosen 1 Bligh Street - one of Australia's first 6 star green rated office buildings - for our new Sydney offices, which account for 60 per cent of our overall premises."
Mr Clark added that the success of the AusLSA initiative would depend on the willingness of other firms to join Clayton Utz and the founding AusLSA members in being transparent around their sustainability practices. "We are seeing the benefits of firms' taking a collaborative approach to addressing other important sector-wide issues - such as mental health in the profession, through the Depression and Anxiety Working Group (of which Clayton Utz is a founding member). Sustainability is another area where all firms stand to benefit from sharing knowledge and working together to achieve best practice."