Susan Jones is a Partner in Gilbert + Tobin’s Competition + Regulation group, specialising in competition law – an area that seeks to regulate anti-competitive conduct by companies and maintain market competition. After working in Belgium and Switzerland for 10 years, Susan returned home to be closer to family and Australia’s wild natural beauty, but she finds an enduring connection to Europe at 101 Collins Street, where the architecture and proportions provide familiarity, comfort and motivation. 

I started out in competition law. After university, I worked at the ACCC in Brisbane and during my career I’ve practiced in various areas of competition law. I moved to Belgium and worked for Allen & Overy in Brussels for five years, before I was headhunted by Novartis, a global healthcare company in Switzerland. I was with Novartis for 10 years, working on several international transformational deals, which was very exciting. 

Eventually I became homesick and wanted to come back to Australia to be closer to family. I missed Australia’s wild natural beauty and that sense of belonging and connection. I also wanted to come back to the right place for work. Gilbert + Tobin has a great competition law team, I knew a lot of the partners,they’re well-respected internationally and are essentially the go-to people for particular areas of competition law, so it was really exciting to join the team.

Our competition law team in Melbourne is made up of people who love what they do and who are really energised by it. We spend a lot of our time at work, so it’s very important that we enjoy what we do and have fun. We are a very diverse team – if you are working among a lot of different perspectives, the outcome is always going to be better. 

It takes a lot of hard work to become a partner. I gained a lot of experience working overseas on international mergers and investigations and also built-up expertise working in-house in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Building a network of relationships has also been key. Relationships are so important when building a practice and for the Competition + Regulation team, international referrals are very important. Having those connections with our partner law firms overseas is critical.

When I’m walking in through the 101 lobby, or leaving very late at night, there’s a sense of warmth and elegance, which I find very calming. It energises me in the morning, and at the end of a long day, it gives me a real sense of achievement. 

I might, and I might hide the bags under my desk!