This site was created to share technology tips, mostly borne out of an internal discontent and sadness watching my fellow law students attempt to operate Microsoft Word.
The site had to stop running for a time, as attempts to compromise the security of the site were becoming too frequent and I did not have time to maintain it. I re-built it in late 2023, and now have the benefit of managed hosting to mitigate security risks. Unfortunately, some of the content which used to exist here has been lost.
About Zane
I am admitted to practice law in Queensland, and presently provide cyber security advisory services to large ASX listed companies and the energy industry.
I have special interests in cyber security related litigation, particularly in relation to formulating lawsuits to attach cyber liability using director’s duties and consumer protection statutes.
Everything I’ve done to date professionally has been borne out of computers. Let me explain:
- As a youngling, I perpetually dismantled and re-assembled anything with electronics in it. Re-assembly had a moderate success rate.
- When the iPhone SDK launched in the late 2000s, I was drawn to it. I taught myself to program in Objective-C, and had moderate success with some projects in the App Store.
- Whilst studying, I applied for an internship in the legal team at Queensland’s electricity “Transmission Network Service Provider”, which is creatively registered as “Queensland Electricity Transmission Corporation”. Someone with a degree of marketing genius later came up with a trade name for the entity, which calls itself “Powerlink Queensland”. I learned that I was selected by the lawyers largely out of fascination with my computer science grades. Since this job, I’ve maintained a more-than-casual relationship with the electricity market.
- I left the electrifying internship at Powerlink to go to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, a quasi-court that re-visits decisions made by government agencies. Again, my computer skills allowed me to snake into a legal role. When COVID struck, I had unique experience supporting hearings in a role which basically emulated the role of a bailiff in an actual court. Couple that with the ability to understand the audiovisual and other technical systems in the hearing rooms, and I was invited to join the “Hearing Room Enablement Project”. I said I would only join if I could be trained to take on the duties of an Associate.
- The resulting acquiescence led to a scenario where I was supporting a Senior Member of the Tribunal, who then led the practice area which dealt with all character-related migration and citizenship decisions. I expressed an interest in becoming his Associate. I was granted that role, and was thrown into the fast-paced world of time-limited visa cancellations. Migration might seem a far cry away from computers. And it was. But it gave me a solid grounding in understanding risk and risk management: character cancellations are principally about managing the “risk of harm to the Australian community” (at least according to the Minister’s legislative directions).
- Somehow, despite the time pressures of more than full-time work at the Tribunal, I completed a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and a Bachelor of IT (majoring in Computer Science) (Distinction). I was admitted to practice law by the Supreme Court of Queensland in late 2022.
- At some stage in 2021, I decided that I did not relish developing an expertise in the law of deportation. In fact, I found it rather unpalatable. I applied to various jobs. Again, computers got me a role which I probably would have otherwise had no business being in. Today, rather than enabling character-related migration litigation, I work in KPMG Australia’s cyber security practice, providing technical and compliance-oriented advice to businesses. Most of the clients I work to are in the energy sector – a fascinating consequence of that early-university internship.