Justice Downs graduated from Otago University in 1993 with an LLB (Hons). He later completed an LLM (Hons, 1st class) at Cambridge University and a PhD at Otago University. His doctoral thesis was recognised by the Division of Humanities as exceptional. He worked as a junior solicitor at Brewer Mazengarb in 1994, and then as an Assistant Crown Counsel at Crown Law between 1994–1996. From 1996–2005 he worked at Ben Vanderkolk & Associates and then Meredith Connell. He rejoined Crown Law in 2005, later becoming Senior Crown Counsel. There, he appeared regularly in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Justice Downs was appointed a High Court Judge on 11 August 2016 and is based in Auckland.