Retirement of Wendy Pack SC

Wendy Pack commenced practice at the Bar when women barristers were regarded with great scepticism by other lawyers, particularly the older male lawyers who handed out the briefs.

The historian, Mrs. Dorothy Gibson-Wilde, in her short biography of Wendy Pack which appears in “A Woman’s Place – 100 years of Queensland Women Lawyers”, says of Mrs. Pack:

“Wendy feels her parents passed on values that shaped her character, such as respect for knowledge, initiative, independence and a strong work ethic.  She learnt not only to work conscientiously, but also to do a job to the best of her ability and to exercise prudence and fair judgment.”

These qualities have been plainly exhibited by Wendy during the course of the past 30 years of practice at the Bar in North Queensland.

Wendy has dominated the family jurisdiction in this time, which has seen numerous changes in the approach of the Family Court to the very difficult issues which arise from family breakdown.

In the swirling morass which followed many of the changes, W.L. Pack, Barrister-at-law, seems to have been the one constant.

Notwithstanding Wendy’s great success at the bar, she is very modest about her achievements, sometimes to the point of self effacement.

It seems that Wendy brought to the practice of the law what she developed as a teacher – as Mrs. Gibson-Wilde notes of that period of Wendy’s life:

“Colleagues recall her as being exceptionally professional, a very good teacher and highly regarded by the students.”

Wendy Pack has been an exemplar for women in the law.  Thirty years ago the profession was dominated by males.  Women seeking professional lives  in  the  law  were  disadvantaged  by  the  time-pressures of family life.

Wendy Pack demonstrated that it was possible to “juggle three hats as wife, mother and barrister”, which, as Mrs. Gibson-Wilde observes, “is a skill like no other.”

The barristers of the North Queensland Bar Association, wish Wendy a long and enjoyable “cessation of practice” and the very best for the future.

Michael Drew