Margaret graduated BA, LLB from Auckland University in 1983. After work as a litigator in Auckland she decided to undertake post graduate study in London and subsequently graduated with a Master of Laws from the University of London, King’s College in 1993.

Upon return to Auckland, Margaret commenced practice as a Barrister sole with a focus on alternative dispute resolution, relationship property and trust cases while also developing expertise in international family law issues.  She has for a number of years combined her dispute resolution work with her advocacy in cross-border cases and in the emerging area of fertility and reproductive law. She is an acknowledged expert in matters involving the Hague Convention on Child Abduction, Inter-country Adoption Convention, local adoptions and surrogacy arrangements (both international and domestic). She regularly conducts mediations both in Auckland and throughout New Zealand often involving multi party relationship property, trust and estate disputes.

She was the first Chair of the Family Law Section of the New Zealand Law Society, is a member of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and since 2015, has been a member of the International Experts Group on Parentage/Surrogacy working at the Hague Conference on Private International Law. Margaret is a member of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of NZ (AMINZ) and a member of the Panel of Family Law Arbitrators.

Margaret was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2015.