Debates around the Phelps' dinner table are more lively than those in most families.
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On Friday they celebrated the admission of the family's fifth lawyer, Georgina Phelps, to the ACT Supreme Court.
Throw in the highly esteemed political credentials of her grandmother, former Senate president Margaret Reid, and conversations at family gatherings take on a rigour usually reserved for the bar table.
''Mum's in family law, so she's pretty diplomatic, but the rest of us get a bit carried away sometimes, a lot of strong opinions tend to come out'' Ms Phelps said. ''Christmas time is always fun.''
Her father, Michael Phelps, and mother, also called Margaret Reid, jointly moved to have her admitted to the Supreme Court on Friday morning. The rest of the family watched on.
It was the culmination of a long journey of study, training and hard work.
But law was something Ms Phelps said she had always gravitated towards.
She started working in her parents' firm, Phelps Reid Lawyers, when 17, helping with odds and ends, and learning the administrative ropes.
The admission means she follows in the footsteps of her brother, Benjamin, who was admitted a decade ago and now works for Foxtel.
Ms Phelps joined a cohort of 42 young lawyers admitted to the ACT Supreme Court in two ceremonies on Friday.
Justice Richard Refshauge, presiding over one ceremony alongside Chief Justice Helen Murrell, used his speech to urge the young lawyers to value their family and friends.
''Treat them better than your employer because they will be there when your employer has come and gone,'' he said.
Ms Phelps is working in corporate law, and says it's hard to predict where she will be in 10 years.
But she said it would always be hard to fill the shoes of her grandmother, the nation's first female Senate president.
''She's an incredible woman, it's hard to live up to everything she does, and she's still going,'' Ms Phelps said.