Deborah Day obtained a Bachelor of Laws from the Queensland University of Technology (then QIT) and later a Master of Laws majoring in International Law and International Dispute Resolution from the University of Technology Sydney. She was admitted as a solicitor in 1986 after completing 2 years of articles of clerkship. Prior to coming to the Legal Practice Course, Deborah practised as a solicitor in a number of small to medium firms in the areas of commercial litigation, commercial leasing, insolvency and family law. She was also employed by the Commonwealth of Australia in the Australian Taxation Office and the Office of the Australian Government Solicitor where she specialised in administrative law. She has been employed as an in-house corporate solicitor in charge of litigation for Herd Holdings Pty Ltd. She has lectured undergraduate students in both the Business and Law Faculties at the QUT and several other universities in the areas of Consumer Law, Contract Law, Bankruptcy Law, Taxation Law, and Company & Partnership Law and Torts.
In 1997 and 1998 she worked as a research consultant for the Law Council of Australia and assisted in the preparation of its response to the Inquiry into the Adversarial System of Justice, Legal Education and Training and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
