Former Queensland Court of Appeal justice and Family Court of Australia judge the Honourable John Jerrard QC passed away aged 73 at his home in Brisbane yesterday.
John Alexander Jerrard was born on 20 February 1948 in Miles and educated through the Primary Correspondence School and at the Southport School, before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (1967) and Bachelor of Laws (1970) at the University of Queensland.
He worked as a clerk in the prosecution section of the Office of the Queensland Solicitor-General (1969) and as a clerk in the Queensland Public Defender’s Office (1970).
On 23 March 1971, he was admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland. He returned to the prosecution section, where he served initially as a legal assistant and then as a Crown prosecutor (1972-73). Jerrard then completed a Master of Laws degree at University College, London (1975).
In 1976, he returned to Brisbane to the Public Defender’s Office, serving as assistant public defender from 1977 to 1979, before commencing practice at the private Bar. Jerrard served as an acting judge of the District Court of Queensland in 1991 and took silk on 3 December 1992.
He served as deputy president (1995-97) and then president (1997) of the Queensland Community Corrections Board. On 20 March 1998, he was appointed a judge of the Family Court of Australia, based in Brisbane.
On 31 May 2002, he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland and a judge of appeal. He retired from the court, due to ill health, on 5 December 2008.
Biographical information courtesy of the Supreme Court Library Queensland.
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