The Jackson Scholarship - The Honourable David JS Jackson

This biography has been prepared by UQLA Director James Rigby, one of his Honour’s associates.

Justice Jackson is a brilliant lawyer and person.

I speak for all his Associates when I say that his kindness, intellectual rigour and his astute counsel have made their impression on our careers in the law.

Called in 1977, and taking silk in 1990, that astute counsel was honed over a 35 year career at the Bar.

Since his appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2012 – the first to be sworn-in at the Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law – Justice Jackson has made a significant contribution, including during his tenure on the Commercial List, and as chair of the Queensland Law Reform Commission from 2014 to 2020.

But how to measure a career on the Bench?

Perhaps by volumes of decisions reported. His Honour’s Associates know all too well (from receiving the proof copies) how his crisp analysis of issues of procedural and substantive law found favour with the editors and their readers.

Or perhaps by distance covered – in time and place – between the leading authorities his Honour would bring to bear in illuminating the legal issues before the Court. There was no legal issue without precedent if one knew where, and when, to look.

(An alternative measure of distance – that driven by his Associates on regional circuits – might be unduly inflated, with his Honour’s navigational directions not proving quite as astute as his Commercial List timetabling directions.)

Whatever the measure, his Honour’s contributions as a Judge of this State were rightly described upon his retirement as outstanding.

To his Associates, Justice Jackson was variously a mentor, a leader, an idol and a friend. Judge – and, despite his insistence otherwise, to us I think he will always be known that way – had countless tales of history, politics, law and tea clippers to tell. His Honour had some thoughts on causation and loss of a valuable commercial opportunity – which he would generously share with his Associates, and shared with the profession in the speech by that name in 2017, one of his many contributions towards a greater understanding of the law.

His Honour sought to be a part of his Associates’ lives – and more particularly, a part of their online group chat, at one point known as the “Jackson Five” (until his sixth Associate arrived), now the “Jackson Ten”. Of course, there were limits even to the powers of a Judge of the Supreme Court.

Although a man of formidable intellect, his Honour’s mentorship of his Associates revealed to us his care for people and the profession. His encouragement and support have led his Associates variously to studies at Oxford, their own careers at the Bar and work as solicitors and advocates. It is remarkable, given the well-known rigours of the profession, that all ten of his Honour’s Associates remain in it. It is a testament to his example.

It is that example which has led the profession and a group of his Honour’s former associates to establish the Jackson Scholarship to, in his name, extend support to students on their way to joining our proud profession.