Law students and former housemates Maxwell Erberhardt and Katherine Richards not only shared a kitchen but a special career milestone recently.
The friends were admitted to the Supreme Court of Queensland on the same day at the same admission ceremony in Cairns in January along with six other newly admitted lawyers.
Justice Henry’s former Associate said a particularly special part of the ceremony was the opportunity to be admitted alongside his friend and former colleague Katie, who served as Judge Fantin’s Associate in Cairns in 2025.
“Already being both my friend and colleague, Katie also was my housemate for the year so having really shared the last year in so many ways from work to PLT, to even cooking dinners, it seemed really appropriate that Katie and I shared an admission ceremony,” Max said.
“Despite having seen plenty of these ceremonies in my role as an Associate, it was both exciting and a bit unnerving at the same time.
“It was also a bit of a collision of my professional and personal lives, here I was in the courtroom that I had worked in all year, before the Judge who I has worked for as an Associate, with my Mum, Dad and Sister in the jury box and my extended family in the gallery, it was quite surreal.”
Katie, who is joining Sparke Helmore’s Cairns office, said what stood out at the admission ceremony were Justice Henry’s words.
“I most remember Henry J’s words about the importance of taking time to reflect on the meaning of the oaths,” she said.
“I decided on a career in law because I enjoy problem-solving and collaborating with other people and I want to have a tangible positive impact on the lives of others.
“I asked Louise Kruger, a Barrister at Carbolic Chambers, to move my admission, because I did administrative work for her during my studies and have a lot of respect for her as a lawyer and a person.
“She was a great example of the kind of lawyer I want to be.
“I hope to do work that I find interesting, takes me different places, and improves the lives of others.”
Max asked his uncle Craig Eberhardt KC to move his admission.
“I was incredibly grateful that both he, and most of my family, were willing to come all the way from Brisbane just to see me be admitted,” he said.
“My first job in the law was working for Craig as his law clerk one day a week, so it really was a full circle moment to have him move my admission before Justice Henry, who I had just spent the past year working for and learning from.”
Max started his university program studying a double degree in Science and Arts, majoring in Statistics and Political Science, before switching to law.
“I really became interested pursuing a career in law after taking a first-year Introduction to Australian Politics course where they spent a couple of weeks teaching us about the Australian legal system and how it interreacts with our daily lives,” he said.
“I was a bit disappointed that the rest of my degree wasn’t really going to touch on this area again, so when the year ended, I decided I was going to swap into studying law.”
Since being admitted, Max has started working at Potts Lawyers at the Gold Coast office.
“My time working as an Associate in the Cairns Supreme Court and before that as a law clerk, both for my uncle and later at Robertson O’Gorman Solicitors, have really fostered an interest in the criminal law, particularly in the way that it can interact so strongly in ordinary people’s lives,” he said.
“This interest is quite similar to what made me swap to studying law after my first year in university, so it seemed like the right step to pursue a career as a criminal lawyer.
“My plan for the future is to keep building off my time as a law clerk and Judge’s Associate by continuing to learn as much as I can from the senior practitioners around me who I am lucky enough to have as mentors and role models.
“One of my biggest takeaways from my time working as an Associate to Justice Henry, a lesson he also shared in his speech at this recent admission ceremony, is that you should always be continuing to learn new things as a legal practitioner and that admission is by no means the end of this journey.”
Newly admitted lawyers on 23 January 2026 in Cairns: Paris Colette, Paige Courtney, Katherine Richards, Maxwell Eberhardt, Karen Williams, Loren Burgess, Holly Hastie, Jackson Vickery.
Proctor celebrates all newly admitted lawyers and congratulates them on this significant achievement. Please email details to proctor@qls.com.au. Ensure you include some details of your current role, your admission mover, along with images from your admission sitting.
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