Barrister & Solicitor

 

All her working life Tanya has been involved with the law, commencing work at the Attorney-General’s Department in the 1980s as a paralegal in the Civil Section.

She left work while expecting the first of her 4 sons, and was provided time away from the workforce to raise her children while her husband became the sole breadwinner for the family.

As the children grew older Tanya embarked on running her own small catering business before returning to University to finish her degree (commenced, but not completed, in the 80s). This became of greater importance to her when her previous boss – one of the Assistant Crowns in the AG’s department – told her plainly to ‘go get a law degree’ as she was ‘wasted as a paralegal’.

She graduated with a First Class Honours Degree from Adelaide University; a joyous occasion belying the tedium of writing the thesis which enabled her to graduate!

Following this Tanya was asked by Adelaide University to remain as staff and teach, which she has continued to do since 2008, while also commencing employment in private practise with a small law firm in Adelaide. Soon discovering she connected with family and criminal law, in 2011 she moved to the Child Support Unit of the Legal Services Commission and her practise has now become specialised in everything regarding child support and maintenance (spousal and adult child). Despite the contentment she feels in her position, she still misses criminal law.

She and her high-school Maths teacher husband have been married since 1984 and have 4 lovely sons (aged 27, 25, 20, and 19); the elder two are happily partnered and have ‘left the nest’, while the younger two, while also happily partnered, remain at home and are both currently commerce students at Tanya’s alma mater. All 4 young men are footballers, and both parents have spent their winters watching and travelling between 4 games of footy – as each son plays at a different SANFL or SAAFL club. During the ‘off season’, Tanya and her husband pack up and travel together.

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This profile was crafted by Amber Averay The Enchantment Wordsmith