Gathering on the rooftop of the Henry Davis York building in Martin Place, attendees were presented with AusLSA's report, Environmental Consumption of AusLSA Members 2009/2010, which revealed the carbon footprints of the eight AusLSA founding members.

Officially launched by the Honourable Malcolm Turnbull MP, the report revealed the carbon emissions of Clayton Utz, DLA Phillips Fox, Henry Davis York, Jackson McDonald, Maddocks, McCullough Robertson, Norton Rose Australia and Swaab Attorneys.

With a focus on industry collaboration and increasing sustainability awareness, the report covers paper, water and electricity usage, as well as business travel trends and firm wastage.

As the AusLSA's only executive member from the top-tier, Clayton Utz unsurprisingly topped the list with the largest carbon footprint.

Clayton Utz's chief operating officer and AusLSA board member Stuart Clark 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," Clark said.

"We commend all member firms for demonstrating transparency and true leadership in this important area and strongly encourage other Australian law firms to join the alliance."