Jacqueline Downes

Jacqueline Downes heads Allens' Competition, Consumer & Regulatory group and sits on Allens' Executive Committee. She advises international and Australian clients on competition and consumer law matters and has significant experience dealing with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). Jacqueline has been a partner at Allens for 15 years and leads a team of 40 lawyers. She has championed gender balance, flexible working and the promotion of women throughout her career and has mentored women within and outside of Allens. Jacqueline Chairs the Competition & Consumer Committee of the Law Council's Business Law Section and liaises with the ACCC and Government on policy. Jacqueline is an acknowledged global thought-leader and ranked as a leading competition lawyer in Chambers, Best Lawyers, Legal 500 and Global Competition Review. She is regularly asked to speak at conferences and seminars on competition law issues, including at the International Competition Network as an ACCC-nominated NGA representative and at American Bar Association conferences. She was also appointed an Advisory Board Member for the UNSW Allens Hub for Technology, Law & Innovation in 2021. Jacqueline commenced at Allens as a summer clerk in 1994 and was Associate to the late Hon Justice Daryl Davies in the Federal Court. Jacqueline was educated at Sydney University achieving first class honours in Arts and Law. She has long had an interest in women's issues and history and wrote her history thesis on "Witches and Bitches in Medieval Society". Jacqueline lives with her partner and two sons in Sydney.