Jenna Downy - Managing Director of LEAP Legal Software's Dedicated Family Law Division & Respected Family Lawyer

How did you start down this career path?  

Prior to joining LEAP, I worked as a family lawyer in private practice for many years and experienced firsthand the inefficiencies that exist in legal practice. During that time, I used LEAP as my practice management software and began to see opportunities to better support specialist family lawyers.

In 2023, after the devastating loss of my son, I found it increasingly difficult to hold space for my clients navigating challenging times while managing my own grief. When the opportunity arose to apply my family law knowledge within the legal technology space, particularly as AI was rapidly emerging and to do so at a company whose product I knew well and saw potential to enhance, it felt like a natural and meaningful next step.

This new path allows me to maintain and apply my skills, experience, and professional relationships to help improve the systems that practising family lawyers rely on, while actively contributing to positive change in the profession.

What inspires you in your role/industry? Why?

What inspires me most is seeing the real change our development is making within the legal profession, particularly for family lawyers.

My team has successfully developed and launched several apps now used daily by practitioners nationwide. These include Balance Sheet+ and Parenting Calendar+, which simplify complex financial and parenting arrangements. We also developed a Family Law Order Library, in collaboration with The Honourable Garry Watts AM (former Family Court and Appeals Judge). This is a huge contribution to the profession, providing practitioners with access to expertly drafted orders that can be easily inserted into relevant court forms.

Hearing genuine, positive feedback from family lawyers about how these tools are improving their daily work is incredibly rewarding and continues to inspire me to drive innovation in family law.

Another focus has been the responsible integration of AI into family law practice. My team writes AI prompts to enable users to safely draft key documents such as affidavits, subpoenas, matter summaries, chronologies, and client letters all within LEAP’s secure platform. This gives practitioners confidence to use AI responsibly while maintaining professional and ethical standards.

The positive impact of AI on the profession is both exciting and meaningful. I am inspired to find new ways to implement it into legal practice, particularly because of its ability to streamline repetitive work, and help lawyers complete tasks faster.

Having worked as a family lawyer myself, I know firsthand the difference that specialised tools and improved efficiencies can make in managing workloads, reducing stress and overall contributing to satisfaction in the profession. This is another key motivator for me to continue the work that I do.

What's your approach to customer service that separates you from the rest?  

My approach to customer service is centred on listening to our clients and valuing their feedback. From a product development perspective, my background as a family lawyer helps me understand the core of what the product needs to deliver. However, the people using our products every day have invaluable insights, and we make it a priority to incorporate their feedback and suggestions into continuous improvement.

I also believe in building strong, trusted relationships with our clients that is founded on cooperation, clear communication, and genuine support. This includes providing reliable technical help, engaging openly with their ideas for improvement, and always striving to do better.

I feel strongly about continuing to add value to our product for our clients, and being a reliable source of knowledge on advancements in technology. I have led a national in-person seminar series educating lawyers on how to responsibly adopt AI in their work, particularly important for busy practitioners who often find new technology overwhelming and hear conflicting information about AI in the profession.

To further support family lawyers, we launched the Family Law Forum, which is a CPD-accredited education program offered at no extra cost to LEAP users. The aim is to reduce the financial burden on firms while providing greater access to quality professional education.

How do you innovate and stay ahead of industry trends?  

I believe innovation starts with understanding the real needs of the profession. Having worked as a family lawyer, I know how family lawyers operate, but I also stay closely connected to their evolving challenges and priorities. Listening to their feedback helps identify where technology can truly make a difference.

Working within a company recognised for its innovation, and alongside talented developers and progressive colleagues, provides constant inspiration and learning. There is always something new to explore, improve, or refine.

By combining what the profession wants with the latest advancements in technology, we are able to create practical, forward-thinking solutions that keep both us and our clients ahead of the curve.

What is the toughest challenge you've faced in your role? How did you overcome it?  

When I joined LEAP in 2023, the company had been operating for over 30 years with clearly defined structures and processes. Teams were grouped by role rather than by legal practice area. As the first family lawyer employed to contribute directly to product development, I was tasked with building a new model: one grounded in subject matter expertise and focused entirely on the needs of family lawyers.

One of the most significant obstacles I faced was driving innovation in a space and platform that was originally built for conveyancing. There was no existing blueprint for what we wanted to create. Proposing a shift from role-based to practice-area-based teams disrupted long-standing internal processes and challenged how success had traditionally been measured. As a result, the first 18 months involved navigating internal noise and uncertainty.

On a practical level, I also had to upskill quickly. I wasn’t initially familiar with technical workflows such as app quality testing and deployment protocols. Mistakes were made but I listened, adapted, and introduced changes that kept our team agile and forward-focused, while respecting cross-team collaboration and LEAP’s broader systems.

What helped me overcome these challenges was a clear, client-focused vision. I knew what family lawyers needed because I had been one. This clarity gave our team purpose. We built a close-knit, supportive culture where we shared accountability, celebrated milestones, and kept pushing forward despite early friction.

As our work gained traction, perceptions began to shift. Our successful delivery of specialised family law tools validated the new model, leading to a company-wide restructure in 2024. LEAP transitioned its operating model to form dedicated practice-area teams across seven areas of law, following the blueprint we pioneered in family law.

Driving cultural and structural change in an established business is never easy. But today, LEAP is better positioned for long-term success with a client-focused structure, stronger cross-functional collaboration, and a specialised product suite that is now unmatched in the market.

What are some of your goals for the next 5 years? 

Over the next five years, my goal is to keep innovating and developing meaningful, practical tools and features that genuinely support the profession, and position LEAP as the all-in-one solution for Australian family lawyers.

I want to continue creating superior legal content and offering high-quality legal education to help firms strengthen their knowledge and performance.

I am also passionate about helping firms become more profitable and efficient through better adoption and use of technology and AI in their practice. By promoting smarter workflows and greater automation, we can significantly improve the way lawyers work, and if doing so, we can help address one of the biggest challenges in the industry, burnout among family lawyers, that would be an incredible outcome.

LEAP is an international leader in client-first legal software. We’re powered by a global team of technological innovators and legal experts, supporting firms across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.