I am a lawyer turned freelance writer.
Prior to 2014, I had been a practising lawyer for nearly 20 years, in later years working as a government lawyer with the Crown Solicitor's Office providing high-level advice to CEOs and Ministers. Following the birth of my 2 daughters, I worked part-time as a legal advisor with the Legal Services Commission providing family, criminal and civil advice to the general public. I also edited environmental law journals for the University of Adelaide and the University of SA for 3 years.
I hold both a Bachelor and Master of Laws degrees.
I became a writer by accident. In fact, it WAS an accident. My daughter's.
Suffering a serious injury landing her in hospital, my daughter received exceptional care from the nursing staff. I wanted to write about that care. The whole experience was too raw to write about my family but another young patient who was sharing my daughter's ward and receiving the same care was happy to have his story told. This was Gabriel's story. It was an important story for me to tell, not only to provide information to the reading public about a significant health issue but also of course, for my family, Gabriel's family and the hospital staff. On so many levels, this story gave many gifts, one of which was the unexpected bonus of discovering that I love writing.
'Rebuilding Gabriel' won a National Press Club award. I have been writing ever since.
