Justin Down
President of the Law Society of New South Wales for 2012
Justin has been a member of Lawasia, including Lawasia’s Family Law and Children’s Rights Section, since the 1980s and has attended many Lawasia events during that time. He has presented at numerous Lawasia conferences in family law, ethics, and general law subjects. Justin was elected to the Executive Committee of Lawasia in 2013 and Vice President in 2015. Since joining Exco, Justin has represented Lawasia at many international events.
In 2010 Justin became a member of the Board of the World Congress on Children’s Rights and Family Law and has served as a Director on that Board since that time.
Justin was elected to the Council of the Law Society of New South Wales in 2007 and has served on many Law Society Committees including Family Issues (Co-Chair 2007-2011), Dispute Resolution, Finance, Audit and Professional Conduct. He was also Chair of the Law Society Family Law Specialist Accreditation Committee for many years. Justin was elected President of the Law Society of New South Wales in 2012.and served on the Council until 2014.
Justin was elected as an Executive Councillor of the Law Council of Australia from 2012 to 2014, and was the Australian Country representative to Lawasia in 2013.
Since 1995 Justin has been a partner at Watts McCray, a specialist family and commercial law practice which has grown to be one of the largest specialist family law practices in Australia. He specialises in international family law matters and is a member of the International Academy of Family Lawyers, the International Academy of Collaborative Lawyers and an associate of the International Family Law Group, based in London. Justin was accredited as a Specialist in Family Law in 1994 and is also an accredited arbitrator in family law.
Justin is an author of the family law section of Halsbury’s Laws of Australia, Australian Practical Forms and Precedents and the principal author of the Lexis Nexis online service, Practical Guidance in Family Law. He has written many articles and presentations on family law, nationally and internationally.
