Ross's documented formative years centre on Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, where he undertook his legal education and where his professional life has been based.
Sydney provided the setting for the university and professional training institutions in which he studied and for the firms in which he practised.
Ross studied law at the University of Sydney and received a Bachelor of Laws; his degree is recorded as belonging to the class of 1975. The University of Sydney is Australia's oldest university. Its law degree was established by the 1850 act that incorporated the university, although the faculty did not begin full teaching until 1890, when Pitt Cobbett became the first chair and dean. Sydney Law School was inaugurated in 1855 as one of the university's first three disciplines, alongside Arts and Medicine.
Ross also studied at The College of Law, a practical legal training school founded in the early 1970s with the support of the Law Society of New South Wales. It replaced the former system of articled clerkship with a full-time practical legal training course for graduates intending to practise as solicitors, and it has since become the largest provider of practice-focused legal education in Australasia.
Ross was admitted to practice in Australia in 1976 and began his professional career as a solicitor at Sly & Russell. He later became a partner of Smithers Warren & Tobias, a firm that evolved into Phillips Fox; his partnership there ran from 1980 to 1989. Phillips Fox was a leading Australian business law firm that merged in 2011 with the global firm DLA Piper, when its Australian partnership became DLA Piper Australia.
Ross later served as an Assistant Crown Solicitor in the Crown Solicitor's Office, which provides legal services to the New South Wales government. He was also a partner of Phillips Fox, the firm into which Smithers Warren & Tobias had evolved.
From 2010 to 2024 he was a partner of Eakin McCaffery Cox, a Sydney central business district firm known historically for commercial law with strong litigation and property practices. The firm traces its roots to 1854 through the Vindin Littlejohn practice founded in 1895. Within the firm, Ross was a member of the Commercial Government team, which worked at the intersection of government and commercial law.
Since 2024 Ross has been principal of Greg D Ross - Lawyer Pty Limited. His practice covers administrative law, government contracting, commercial contracting and procurement, probity matters, and intellectual property law, with probity advisory and audit governance services for clients. He has also contributed commentary to Legalwise Seminars presentations, including on modern slavery compliance legislation.
Ross has been involved with the Law Society of New South Wales, the professional body for solicitors in the state. The society was renamed in 1960 and runs a specialist accreditation scheme under which solicitors are certified as specialists in areas of law. Ross served on its Licensing Committee in the past. He was also Head Assessor for the Government and Administrative Law specialist accreditation field in 2011 to 2013.
He is a member of the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board's Legal Qualifications Committee, a body concerned with the admission of lawyers in New South Wales. He has also been a member of the Government and Administrative Law Specialist Accreditation Advisory Committee.
Ross has professional affiliations in procurement. He is an affiliate member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, a professional body for procurement and supply specialists, and from July 2014 a member of its NSW Council. He is a qualified member of the Australian Association of Procurement and Contract Management, which serves practitioners in procurement and contract management.
Member of the Licensing Committee
Law Society of New South Wales , Australia
Member of the Legal Qualifications Committee
NSW Legal Profession Admission Board , Australia
Member
Government and Administrative Law Specialist Accreditation Advisory Committee , Australia
Affiliate member; from July 2014 a member of its NSW Council
Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply , Australia
November, 2013 - present
Qualified member
Australian Association of Procurement and Contract Management , Australia
September, 2013 - present
Active member during his years of study at the University of Sydney
Sydney University Fencing Club , Australia
Quotes from others about the person
Doug Humphreys, in a professional recommendation, described Ross as "a person of high ethical and work standards."
