She joins the latter as its newest IP partner
Patent litigator Rachelle Downie has joined K&L Gates Melbourne as its newest IP partner.
She makes the jump from Corrs Chambers Westgarth, bringing significant experience in complex, high-value IP disputes. In particular, she has tackled multijurisdictional pharmaceutical patent litigation.
Downie’s clients have operated in the health, life sciences, technology, FMCG, mining, automotive and fashion sectors. As a registered trade mark attorney, she has provided advice on trade marks, copyright, confidential information, and consumer law matters.
“Rachelle's unique experience in the pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors, coupled with her strategic acumen, will be invaluable to our team and clients and greatly complement our local and global intellectual property offering to clients”, K&L Gates IP practice area leader Jonathan Feder said.
In addition to her legal experience, Downie has a pharmacist background. She has handled high-stakes patent infringement and revocation proceedings, including urgent interlocutory applications; moreover, she has taken on disputes involving small molecule therapeutics, biologic medicines, protein therapeutics, biotechnology inventions, genetics, mining equipment, automotive, IT and consumer goods.
She has also advised clients in the emerging technologies and renewables spaces on pre-litigation and freedom-to-operate issues. At Corrs, she was a special counsel on its IP litigation group.
Last week, K&L Gates announced that Sydney-based employment lawyer Leila Moddel had been promoted to partner as of 1 January. Moddel has tackled matters involving discrimination, enterprise bargaining, complex workplace investigations, restructuring, and redundancies; she has also handled the employment aspects of commercial and transactional issues, including M&A, share sale arrangements, transfer of business, and transfer of employment situations.
