About Ross

Ross Jackson was appointed Maddocks’ first Partner Emeritus in 2026 upon his retirement from the partnership.

The role of Emeritus Partner recognises a former Partner who has made an exceptional contribution to the development, reputation and leadership of Maddocks, who remains associated with the firm and who is able to assist the firm with strategic input on significant matters, support client relationships, mentor partners and senior lawyers, and contribute to Maddocks' profile and reputation as an ambassador for the firm.

Ross joined Maddocks (then Maddock, Lonie and Chisholm) in 1985 and was a Partner of the firm for 37 years until his retirement from the partnership in July 2026. 

After an initial period of some eight years during which he practiced primarily as a solicitor advocate, prosecuting offences on behalf of local governments across Victorian Magistrates Courts, he started the firm’s employment practice in the mid-nineties. Ross identified employment, discrimination and industrial relations as an increasingly important area of law for Maddocks to develop and market as a specialist expertise.   

Initially this was part of the firm’s broader offering to Victorian local government (a sector to which the firm was and remains the pre-eminent legal service provider), but rapidly broadened to cover State and Federal government, not-for-profit and private sector clients as the nascent team’s reputation grew.

Over the years Ross recruited carefully chosen and developed talent to the team, to the point where it is now one of the largest and most consistently highly ranked employment and safety legal teams in Victoria. It expanded to become a premium provider in work health and safety, with first Catherine Dunlop and then Dale McQualter practising as leading Partners.

Graduate lawyers Ross recruited to the team (in some cases decades ago), such as Catherine Dunlop and Dale McQualter in the safety space, and employment lawyers Lindy Richardson and Michael Nicolazzo, have now become Partners and leading lawyers in the field. Others recruited laterally, such as Meaghan Bare and Meredith Kennedy, are Partners attracted to the team and its reputation for intellectually rigorous, yet practical and unpretentious advice and representation – driven by an unswerving commitment to relationship-driven client service. The team’s values reflect an approach that Ross instilled at the core of the team since its inception. 

As a practitioner he was widely recognised for his expertise acting for public sector employers in all employment, industrial relations and discrimination matters. He also enjoyed an enviable reputation acting for a wide range of not-for-profit clients.  

He served Maddocks as a Board member (including on various Board committees) for over 10 years, and led the Employment, Safety and People team that he founded as Team Leader and Practice Group Head at various times. 

In the broader profession, he served as a member of the Law Council of Australia’s Industrial Relations Committee of the Federal Litigation Section for over 20 years. He was also a member of the Australian Human Resources Institute and Industrial Relations Society of Victoria for decades.

Ross now works intermittently, especially with remote rural clients who appreciate his time in semi-retirement to personally attend their offices, and as required by the firm in the Partner Emeritus role (which includes covering for other Partners on leave). He continues his voluntary legal work as a Tribune for Motorsport Australia Disciplinary, Investigative and Appeals tribunals, and as a judicial Member of the Australian Motorsport Appeal Court.