Sydney, 14 August 2014: Clayton Utz has launched a new web-based 'Dawn Raid' application (Dawn Raid app) that provides users with a practical, step-by-step guide on what to do if they receive a surprise visit from a regulatory authority.

The Dawn Raid app provides a checklist of "to do" items which will assist in ensuring that a company complies with a regulator's search warrant.

It is split into sections: what to do at the start of a raid; what to do during a raid; and what to do following a raid.

The app includes functionality which allows the user to identify the closest legal contact familiar with the company and the particular regulatory authority conducting the raid, and provides the user with ability to call or email those persons, or contact their preferred lawyer at Clayton Utz, via the app.

Clayton Utz competition partner Michael Corrigan said the Dawn Raid app was designed to be a practical tool to equip a company's employees with the information they needed, particularly in the initial stages of a raid, to ensure the company complied with a search.

"When a regulator - be it the ATO, ACCC or ASIC - turns up unexpectedly on a company's doorstep, it's usually not the company's lawyers that receive them. There can be a time delay between the commencement of a raid and the company's lawyers attending the raid. In the interim, someone has to take responsibility for the company's response.

"We wanted to develop a useful tool so that frontline employees in particular can ensure they take the right steps and are able to alert the company's legal team to the search warrant at the first available opportunity. Given that there may be some panic when a regulator arrives on the doorstep, the Dawn Raid app is an easy to read, easy to navigate, and accessible tool - even if the regulator has shut down the company's computer systems.

"Ultimately the aim is to make the process of complying with the search warrant easier for the company."

The Dawn Raid app is available free of charge from Clayton Utz. For further information or to register your interest, visit: www.claytonutz.com/dawn_raid_app.page.

The app was officially launched last night at a function at Clayton Utz in Sydney.

Clayton Utz communications are intended to provide commentary and general information. They should not be relied upon as legal advice. Formal legal advice should be sought in particular transactions or on matters of interest arising from this bulletin. Persons listed may not be admitted in all states and territories.