Jack McDonald

Impetus

I started my first business at 18, providing supports under the NDIS. It expanded into counselling and performance psychology and grew into an operation running across South East Queensland.

The limits of that work were clear. Direct support holds things together for a person day to day, but assisting people through any insurance process is complex.

At 21 I left the sector and went back to study. I enrolled in the Juris Doctor at Griffith.

What I do

I act for people injured on the road, at work and in public places across Queensland. I also run total and permanent disability, income protection and superannuation insurance claims for clients in every state. I hold a Queensland practising certificate and I am based on the Gold Coast.

How I got here

I began a Diploma of Health in 2015 and, in 2017, a Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice and a Bachelor of Human Services at Griffith University, where I was twice awarded the Griffith Award for Academic Excellence. Alongside that I trained in alternative dispute resolution and group facilitation, hold a certificate in restorative justice, and am certified in mental health first aid.

I completed the Juris Doctor at Griffith and the Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice with the College of Law. I am an admitted solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland.

At 22 I was recruited by a national personal injury law firm. That is where I learned the practical side of the work: the drafting, the evidence, and the judgment about when a file is ready and when it is not. Whilst there I was awarded Best Young Lawyer, and had the opportunity to represent hundreds of injured people, including appearances in the Supreme Court of Queensland.

I practise from the Gold Coast and work across the firm’s Brisbane office.