I entered the legal profession at a time of profound upheaval in early 1974. Gough Whitlam had just won the Prime Ministership on a reformist ticket and passed a swath of new laws. They were revolutionary in their impact. The Trade Practices Act introduced a radical regulatory regime for business accountability and consumer rights; the Family Law Act abolished fault and introduced irretrievable breakdown as the sole grounds for divorce and, in a single stroke, purged the pathology of private detectives spying in the marital bedroom. Other initiatives abolished conscription for the Vietnam War, revitalised the arts, and liberalised tertiary education. It was an invigorating time of national rebirth, until the chaos of inexperience created scandal, constitutional crisis, the dismissal of the Prime Minister and ultimately defeat of the government. All of this was a windfall of new work for lawyers.