JMW Legal Practitioner Director Jennifer Wickman had her most memorable day in court this week – moving her son Ben Routledge’s admission.
Legal support officer Ben was one of more than 90 new lawyers admitted to the Supreme Court of Queensland at the Banco Court in Brisbane this week.
“Having grown up in the law arena with mum and her friends, it was a natural progression to be a second-generation lawyer,” Ben said.
“I joke that I didn’t have a choice! At school, I thought engineering was for me, but I soon realised that maths was not my friend.
“The whole ceremony was memorable. It was good to see others that I knew being admitted, seeing a few lawyers on their way to appear on matters, and putting faces to lawyers and court officers that Mum speaks about.
“The most significant thing was the CJ’s advice to have a work life balance. It is hard to do and something I know a lot of lawyers want to achieve but they always put their clients first, and it is really important to have ‘me’ time.”
Jennifer said it was an absolute pleasure to move Ben’s admission.
“I was glad that I wasn’t too teary on the day,” she said.
“Mr David Gilmore was beside me at the bar table (to move the admission of his law clerk) and he was happy to hear that Ben was my son and I was moving his admission as David deals with Ben on criminal matters.
“He was so kind and went over to Ben before court started to congratulate him.”
Ben joined the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution in November 2024 where he is currently a legal support officer.
“I want to remain in criminal law,” he said. “My five-year plan is to be a prosecutor and the DPP is a great organisation for learning, mentoring, and achieving career goals, whilst helping those who have been through very terrible ordeals.”
Jennifer jokes that Ben has spolit her retirement plans, not wanting to follow her footsteps as a family law and succession law practitioner. Ben had previously worked at JMW Legal while studying for a Bachelor of Business (Accounting – extended) and Bachelor of Laws (Honours – Class 2B).
“Having Ben in the office during his school holidays and then weekly when he was at uni was a real treat,” she said.
“It was good for him to know more about what family law really entails, to see empathy and compassion on display daily and to appreciate what truly helping someone at their lowest point looks like.
“Ben was stoked to have me move his admission, a day that is my most memorable court appearance.
“I have moved the admission of two other law clerks from my office. Neither of them went into family or succession law either!”
The admission day, 9 February, was also special to Jennifer for another reason.
“The date is very close to me commencing my five years’ articles of clerkship on 10 February 1992,” Jennifer recalled. “I was admitted as a solicitor on 14 April 1997.
“In addition to family and friends attending the admission, Katrina Craven from JMW and Mark Francis of Family Lawyers and Mediation Services attended to show their support of an early career lawyer.”
Admitted before the Chief Justice, Justice Bond and Justice Wilson on 9 February: Menzie; Cleary; Burns; Brown; Hicks; Levander; Stringer; Toft; Earle; Conner; King; Trautner; Hugonett; Rama; Laurence; Collison; Hawkins; Biri; Witney; Posner; Huth; Jeffrey; Varghese; O’Connor.
Challenor; Kelly; Henderson; Vizer; Aland; Willshire; McDonnell; Broadman; Anderson; Jeffery; Liddy; McGregor; Garcia; La Bertaudiere; Little; Pearce; Ralph; Cross; Ferigo; Routledge; Tilley; Peck; Egan; Wang.
Mohammed; Blake; Bartulovich; Lee Hang; Mitchell; Patel; Torrisi; Whitley; Wenzel; Le; Kaur; Harvey; Cooper; Hills-Spurrell; Kennedy; Kemp; Olive; Fulton; Ruthenberg; Jones; Stephen; Dickson; Singh-Sangha; Hains.
Rowell; Selave; Morrison; Scott; Crellin; Taghipour James; Wu; Toohey; Hindley; Wescombe; Yapa; Riethmuller; Lazar; Van Gent; McTaggart; Ketter; Mojaveri; Chol; Lee; Hunt; Bachra; Pitt; Jones.
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