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John Smith |
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Business website: Gall Standfield & Smith, Solicitors |
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John
Smith was our guest speaker on 26 March 2002. When John was born in 1953
his father was a public servant at the Brisbane Court House. The family
moved to Melbourne where John had his early schooling but then moved
back to Queensland first to Rockhamton and when John was fifteen to the
Gold Coast where he finished his secondary education at Aquinas College.
John joined the Queensland Public Service as a cadet draftsman firstly
in Rockhampton and later in Brisbane and has the satisfaction of seeing
that some of the projects he designed are still in use. He subsequently
joined a private firm on the Gold Coast which prospered with the help of
high profile clients such as the Bond Corporation until the
credit squeeze sent major client ‘to the wall’ and the firm
disintegrated. After a short but instructive stint as a barman in Surfer
Paradise John returned to the Public Service at Southport Court where he
learned people skills, rugby football and started studying law. Rather
than be transferred to Thursday Island John returned to private
enterprise as an articled clerk supplemented by ‘pencilling’ for a
bookmaker and calculating the dividends at the Tote. But an opportunity
opened for practising serious criminal law when John joined the Public
Defenders Office. This was an interesting role for a young lawyer
because while preparing cases including major murder cases they came
into contact with the full range of participants in the legal system
including high profile barristers and saw the best and worst sides of
humanity. John made the transition back to ‘the private mould’ as a
civil lawyer and joined his present firm in 1987. It is a firm in
general legal practice with clients ranging from the Gold Coast City
Council to ‘mums and dads’ and has grown from 4 lawyers when John
joined to 10 lawyers today. The most startling trends that John has
noticed over his 15 years in private practise have been the degradation
of respect for the legal
profession, the apparent decrease in loyalty between client and lawyer
and growth in the ‘you pay - we care’ attitude in the profession.
(extract from Club Bulletin of 26 March 2002) John is President-elect
for 2005/2006. |
