A graduate of Geelong Grammar School, he attended Brasenose College at Oxford University, where he received a Master of Arts; he became a barrister-at-law in Lincolns Inn in 1960.
From 1961 he was an associate to Sir Owen Dixon, Chief Justice of Australia; in 1963 he returned to Victoria as a barrister.
In 1976 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council as a Liberal member for Monash.
He served on a number of committees but never rose from the backbench.