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The making of a national firm: Clayton Utz
The first native-born Australian to be admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales, and a former editor of The Australian, was the founding father of Clayton Utz. With 197 partners and around 800…
The first native-born Australian to be admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales, and a former editor of The Australian, was the founding father of Clayton Utz.
With 197 partners and around 800 other fee-earners in 2011, the evolution of Clayton Utz began back in 1883 when George Robert Nichols established a sole practice on Pitt Street in Sydney.
Nichols, who also entered the world of politics, expanded his practice in 1842 with the addition of partner John Williams, who later served as the first president of what is now the NSW Law Society.
The first of the firm's Claytons, John Horatio Clayton, arrived on the scene in 1879 after inheriting the practice from Richard Driver, who acquired the practice following Nichols' death. He then brought his son Hector Joseph Richard Clayton on board the partnership, which then became John H Clayton & Son.
It was the firm's City Bank Chambers office on Pitt Street which eventually led to the meeting of Clayton and Utz.
John H Clayton & Son occupied the same floor as the practice of Harold Stewart Utz, then known as Mackenzie and Mackenzie Solicitors.
Eventually, in 1920, the two firms merged to form Clayton & Utz.
With further additions to the partnership over the years, including Andrew Midwood Clayton (son of Hector Clayton) and Peter Stewart Utz (son of Harold Stewart Utz), the firm then became Clayton Utz & Company. In 1983, Clayton & Utz merged with Pritchards, changed its name to Clayton Utz and established its first Melbourne office.
Despite suffering a substantial loss to its partnership to Allen & Overy in 2010, today Clayton Utz is headed by chief executive partner Darryl McDonough and last year expanded to Asia, opening an office in Hong Kong.
"In April, we celebrated the first anniversary of our Hong Kong Office which is going strong, [but] we have no immediate plans for further expansion," a firm spokesperson said.
Total staff: 197 partners, 800 lawyers plus support staff
Offices: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth, Darwin, Hong Kong
Click on the covers to explore the story of how each of these now national firms expanded across the continent:
