K&L Gates Adds Patent Litigator to its Intellectual Property Team in Melbourne

Melbourne – Global law firm K&L Gates continues to grow its Intellectual Property (IP) practice with the appointment of patent litigator Rachelle Downie as a partner in Melbourne. Downie joins the firm from Corrs Chambers Westgarth, where she was a special counsel in its intellectual property litigation group. 

Downie is an experienced IP litigator with a scientific background. She acts for clients in complex, high-value IP disputes, with specific experience in handling multijurisdictional pharmaceutical patent litigation. Downie has a wealth of experience assisting clients across various industries, including health, life sciences, technology, FMCG, mining, automotive, and fashion. Downie is also a registered Trade Mark Attorney who advises on trade marks, copyright, confidential information, and consumer law matters.

Working at the intersection of science, technology, and law, Downie leverages her pharmacy degree, deep industry knowledge and previous practice as a pharmacist to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients develop effective patent enforcement and defensive strategies. She regularly acts in high-stakes patent infringement and revocation proceedings, including urgent interlocutory applications, and has advised on disputes involving small molecule therapeutics, biologic medicines, protein therapeutics, biotechnology inventions, genetics, mining equipment, automotive, IT, and consumer goods.

In addition to her litigation work, Downie provides strategic advice to clients in emerging technologies and renewables sectors, offering guidance on pre-litigation and freedom-to-operate issues which is particularly valuable for new market entrants.

"Rachelle’s appointment marks an exciting milestone for our expanding IP practice," said Jason Opperman, Regional Managing Partner, Australia. "Rachelle's strong technical capabilities and extensive experience across diverse industries, along with a committed client-first approach, will significantly strengthen our ability to deliver innovative, strategic IP solutions that benefit both our local and global clients."

Jonathan Feder, Intellectual Property Practice Area Leader, remarked: "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. We are delighted to welcome her to the Australian team."  

Over the past year the global IP practice has also welcomed partners Fei Shen in Orange County, Vincent Galluzzo in Charlotte, and Daniel Marschollek and team in Frankfurt.

In Australia, Downie is the tenth new partner to join since January 2024, following the appointments of Intellectual Property, Finance, Corporate and Real Estate partners Sally Foreman, Luke Paterson, Divesh Patel, Carl Hinze, Khilen Devani, Claudine Salameh, Justin O'Callaghan, Simon Moen, and Paul Lalich. 

K&L Gates’ IP practice boasts more than 250 lawyers and professionals – including more than 115 registered patent lawyers, agents, and technology specialists with technical or advanced science degrees, nearly 30 with doctorates – who devote their practices to helping clients establish, enforce, and leverage their intellectual property rights worldwide. The practice filed more than 5,535 patent applications and 4,455 trademarks worldwide in 2024. The firm remains the only globally financially integrated law firm capable of offering clients IP services across four continents.