Jeff Mann's Fifty Years

A five-decade career, a sole practice, a QLS presidency won by handwritten letters — and a practising certificate that lapsed quietly this week. Jeff Mann's parting message to the profession is worth reading.

Profession Press

Queensland Law Society Past President Jeff Mann let his practising certificate lapse this week, ending a career that began when he was a teenager and lasted five decades. He had been a sole practitioner and QLS Senior Counsellor, elected to the Society's presidency in July 1997 after writing hundreds of letters to members across the state — a campaign conducted by hand, by conviction. His parting message to those coming through asked them to see the profession not as a way to make a living but as "a calling that demands intellectual and ethical stewardship," a phrase that borrows from Francis Bacon and lands with more weight than most farewell addresses. On AI, he was measured rather than hostile — doubtful that it would replace the art of judgement, though not dismissive of the technology itself. Fifty years is long enough to have watched the profession change past recognition in every direction except the one that matters. The certificate lapsing quietly is, in its own way, worth stopping to notice.