Sharon has led her team to become market-leading advisors on significant, complex cartel, merger, competition and consumer litigation and investigations. This includes Sharon’s role Assisting Lion with the ACCC’s long-running investigation into tied beer contracts, on ABI InBev’s acquisition of SAB Miller and on the ACCC’s market study into the Australian dairy industry, as well as Cabcharge on its undertaking to the ACCC to give third parties access to its in-taxi payment system and its acquisition of Yellow Cabs Queensland.
Sharon has been instrumental in building the competition law capability of our Hong Kong practice (recognised as a Tier 1 team), was the first senior partner to spend time on secondment in our Beijing office and is an active member of the Law Council of Australia’s Competition and Consumer Committee. Most recently, Sharon lead the Committee’s submission to the Federal Treasury on the Government’s response to those of the Harper Committee’s recommendations that touch upon Australia’s merger control regime.
Current accolades
- Euromoney’s 2018 Guide to the World’s Leading Competition & Antitrust Experts
- KWM’s in-house Australian Brexit advisor for local clients with operations in the UK
- Appointed (2016) to the panel of Chairs of Medicines Australia
- Named by GCR as one of the Global 150 Women in Antitrust 2016
- Client Choice Awards – Exclusive Winner of the 2016 Client Choice Award for Competition and Antitrust in Australia
- The Australian Financial Review, Best Lawyers (Competition and Regulatory Practice) 2013-2017
- Listed as a Leading Individual in Chambers Asia Pacific – successive years and currently
- Listed as Leading Lawyer in Competition – IFLR - successive years and currently
- Listed as Leading Individual in The Legal 500 – Asia Pacific – successive years and currently
- Recognised in Global Competition Review’s Who’s Who Legal: Competition – successive years and currently
- Asialaw’s Leading Lawyers – successive years and currently
- Shortlisted for Lawyers’ Weekly ‘Partner of the Year 2016’ in Competition, Regulatory & Trade’.
Industry contribution and thought leadership
Sharon has presented papers on competition law topics at legal conferences in Australia and Asia. She is one of the lecturers for Sydney University's Masters of Laws and has presented papers at conferences convened by the International Bar Association, as well as at various conferences in Australia. Sharon hosts Chatham House lunches with Commissioners and Executives from the ACCC, key Executive General Managers, and senior politicians, including Ministers.
Sharon is an author/co-author of the Australian chapter for Chambers Global Practice Guides on Merger Control and Chambers Global Practice Guides on Cartels; the Australian chapters for ICLG’s Merger Control; for GCR’s Market Insights on Merger Control; the Australian chapter for ICLG’s Cartels & Leniency; the Australia chapters for Getting the Deal Through – Market Intelligence on Merger Control and is a co-author (with Susan Ning, the Head of the firm’s China-based Competition Law Team) of the China Update for the Australian Journal of Competition & Consumer Law, an author of “Recent Developments in Australia’s Merger Control Regime” for Lexisnexis’ Mergers & Acquisitions Law Guide and an author on PLC’s Competition Law Updates.
Professional memberships
- Law Council of Australia - Trade Practices Committee - Member
- International Bar Association - Antitrust Section - Member
- The American Bar Association - Section of Antitrust Law - Member
- The Interdisciplinary Centre for Competition Law and Policy, Queen Mary, University of London - Affiliate.