Company: Clayton Utz
Title: Senior lawyer
Age: 29
Caitlin McConnel is a senior lawyer within Clayton Utz's (CU) restructuring and insolvency and agribusiness and food teams. Her ability to work beyond the experience required of her role is reflected in the trust placed in her to manage clients and lead matters independently. A couple of her key achievements in the past 12 months include securing a successful outcome in potential contempt proceedings for the Minister in Ogawa v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection; acting independently on behalf of a senior officer of the Australian Border Force in the inquest into the death of Fazel Chegeni Nejad in Western Australia; and leading the relationship with agribusiness client Ceres Tag which involved refining its commercial contracts and assisting with business structuring, intellectual property and employment law matters.
McConnel demonstrates leadership in promoting CU's agribusiness capability, building client relationships and contributing to industry dialogue that raises awareness on important matters in the sector. She also advocates for youth in agriculture and initiates events and partnerships that support the practice and firm. Her achievements outside of work include being elected non-executive director of the Future Farmers Network and pursuing a Master of Law from the University of Melbourne (to be completed mid-2020).
