Australia’s leading plaintiff law firm gains flexibility and control

A modern approach to governance and compliance

For Maurice Blackburn, Australia’s leading plaintiff law firm, growth and modernisation go hand in hand. As part of a wider business transformation initiative, the firm sought to improve governance and compliance across its financial operations. Yet its existing systems were slowing progress—manual workflows, integration issues, and delayed invoice processing limited visibility and agility.

When the firm set out to review both its expense and accounts payable (AP) solutions, Emburse emerged as the partner capable of delivering the automation, transparency, and flexibility it needed to keep pace with organisational change.

When manual processes hold modern firms back

Before Emburse, Maurice Blackburn’s finance teams faced significant roadblocks to efficiency. Invoices were delayed by slow optical character recognition (OCR) processing, approval chains required manual maintenance, and users had limited visibility into transactions. Integrations with the firm’s ERP system were inconsistent, making it difficult to maintain accurate and timely records across departments.

The result was a process that simply couldn’t keep up with the firm’s pace of change. Finance leaders recognised that without automation and unified visibility, governance and compliance improvements would remain out of reach.

Key challenges included:

• Lack of automation in the existing system
• Delays in invoice OCR processing
• Limited document visibility within the ERP
• Manual approval maintenance and integration issues
• Lack of user accessibility and transparency across workflows

Building flexibility into the foundation of finance

Maurice Blackburn chose Emburse for its ability to modernise workflows without adding complexity. With Emburse Expense Enterprise and Invoice, the firm consolidated expense and invoice management into a single, intuitive platform. This gave employees and approvers a unified experience—backed by robust analytics and real-time reporting.

Implementation was guided by a focus on adaptability: the firm needed a solution that could evolve with its structure and policies. Emburse’s flexible configuration meant new approval paths or departmental changes could be reflected in weeks, not months, giving finance teams the agility to align quickly with shifting organisational needs.

“Emburse gives us the flexibility to adapt quickly when our organisation changes.” — Maurice Blackburn Representative

Unified systems, smarter decisions

By moving to Emburse, Maurice Blackburn streamlined employee reimbursements, eliminated manual work, and gained transparency across its AP and expense processes. The ability to leverage existing master data and automate approval flows significantly improved turnaround times while reducing human error.

Key solution highlights:

• Unified system for expenses and invoices—no more fragmented platforms
• Streamlined employee reimbursements and approval delegation
• Enhanced analytics and reporting for real-time insight
• Automated receipt matching to credit card charges for better accuracy
• Intuitive visibility into approval chains for users and administrators

From manual maintenance to intelligent agility

Since adopting Emburse, Maurice Blackburn has redefined how quickly it can respond to organisational change. What once required months of manual configuration now takes just weeks. Finance teams have shifted their focus from maintaining processes to optimising them, using embedded analytics to guide smarter, faster decision-making.

The firm’s commitment to operational excellence now extends to every level of spend management—with automation improving accuracy, accessibility, and control across the board.

Results at a glance:

• Reflected business changes in weeks, not months
• Reduced manual maintenance and eliminated duplicate work
• Gained improved visibility and reporting across financial operations
• Empowered users with clearer approval access and accountability

A partnership that evolves with the business

For Maurice Blackburn, this transformation was about more than automation—it was about readiness. As the firm continues to evolve, Emburse provides the adaptable infrastructure that ensures financial operations remain compliant, efficient, and aligned with its strategic goals. Together, they have built a foundation for governance that’s as forward-looking as the firm’s mission.

“Emburse gives us the flexibility to adapt quickly when our organisation changes.” — Maurice Blackburn Representative