We don't want everyone to be the same

Transcript

My Clayton Utz journey has been a long one! I arrived as a 22 year old straight from university with a terrible sunburn to be an articled clerk in the Perth office.

I'm now a partner in the Workplace Relations, Employment and Safety team, based in Perth, and have acted in some major industrial litigation where I got to work with some of Australia's leading silks and provide cutting-edge advice for some amazing clients.

I love being an employment lawyer. There's a very human element in the matters we work on, which I find very interesting and challenging, and also heaps of variety. I am also easily bored, so this suits me perfectly.

Along the way I've had opportunities that I never considered possible while working at Clayton Utz.

I've been lucky enough to work in our Melbourne office for a number of years and to travel and work regularly in other offices. Through this, I've had the opportunity to be exposed to clients and matters I wouldn't otherwise have worked with.

I've also been able to develop my skills through learning supported by the firm ‒ I completed a Masters of Laws at the University of Melbourne while working full time, and have also had in-house training in leadership and business excellence, which I found invaluable.

Now I'm trying to make sure other people have the opportunity to be everything they can be, by supporting female lawyers through the Momentum initiative and our LGBTI colleagues as an LGBTI Ally.

As part of the National Momentum Committee, I've seen considerable improvements in the career paths for women at Clayton Utz ‒ we have a gender target for the partnership and, importantly, paid parental leave and formal (and informal) flexibility policies. These benefit not only women, but all members of the Clayton Utz team.

We are well on the way with our diversity journey, but we continue to look for ways to improve. Our business has to respond to what our partners and employees want, and that includes increased flexibility in the ways in which we work. I feel it's important that I model that behaviour, and foster an environment where our team is comfortable bringing their whole selves to work, and speaking up when they have ideas about how we can do things better.

I see the Stay True campaign as a reflection of what we value at Clayton Utz. We celebrate the different attributes that we all bring to work. We don't want everyone to be the same!