Counsel holds degrees in Arts and Law and a Masters in Law from the University of Melbourne.

Before signing the Bar Roll, Counsel worked for two years on Freedom of Information for a non-governmental organisation in Johannesburg. He was previously Associate to a County Court Judge in Melbourne, including a period spent at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). This included experience of the Court's general criminal and civil jurisdictions and of specialist jurisdictions at VCAT, including Anti-Discrimination, Freedom of Information, Retail and Residential Tenancies, Domestic Building, Guardianship, Occupational Licensing and public sector superannuation determinations.

Counsel has also worked in a variety of areas of law as a solicitor in private practice and as a volunteer in Community Legal Centres in Melbourne and Geelong, including experience of commercial law, personal injury and criminal law. He has also had considerable experience as a teacher and researcher in law at various tertiary educational institutions in Melbourne and regional Victoria and was Education Officer at the University of Melbourne Post-Graduate Association for two years. His teaching and training experience has encompassed Employment and Industrial Law, Administrative Law and Commercial Law. He has conducted research in areas including Freedom of Information, Labour Relations Law, Privacy, Copyright and Judicial Administration. He has published on Labour Law and Freedom of Information in Australia, South Africa and Kenya.

Counsel's experience with non-governmental organisations has included design and implementation of processes of "due diligence" with respect to publishing and marketting by cultural organisations and compliance with legal obligations regarding privacy, copyright, defamation, etc. He has also assumed responsibility for other issues regarding organisational governance, including contracts, property, labour law, occupational health and safety, access for people with disabilities and heritage laws.