Dunedin lawyer Sally McMillan is not only a Citroen-loving, crockery collecting, crib-renovating, art appreciating food and wine buff who holidays overseas with her family every year – she is also principal of a busy law practice.
And that's not all…
Among her other "jobs" Sally is on the board of trustees of John McGlashan College, is honorary solicitor to the New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women, a patron of the Otago Polytechnic School of Art and a member of the Institute of Directors.
- Name
- Sally Louise (Sally) McMillan
- Born
- Dunedin, by accident of birth - meant to be born in West Otago.
- Age
- 53.
- Entry to law
- Graduated BA from Otago University in 1984 and LLB in 1985. Admitted in 1987.
- Workplace
- Principal of Polson McMillan Lawyers, Dunedin.
- Speciality area
- Criminal and family law.
She also served on the Council of the Otago District Law Society and as convenor of the Otago Women Lawyers Society – which celebrates its 30th anniversary tomorrow, Friday 14 October.
"It's important to get the work/life balance thing happening."
She recently became involved in supporting some of the 150 Syrian refugees who have come to Dunedin, working with a family of seven to help them assimilate into life in New Zealand.
"It's a slow day to day process… My husband and I collect cars and we had one too many so we donated them a car… It has made a huge difference for them living in an outer suburb… They are no longer isolated and can go shopping without getting two or three buses…" says Sally.
"I first met my husband Fraser Goldsmith – a commercial lawyer - because we were among only a handful of people in Dunedin in 1980s who owned a Citroen… I have owned Citroens ever since…
"We have quite a few but don't drive them more than one at a time… My latest is a Citroen C4 Cactus which is bright red and looks like a small tank…
"My previous Citroen was written off in an accident with a recidivist drunk driver… We have one or two Citroen DS series – famous for appearing in The Day of the Jackal… We have too many cars but bought a house that doesn't have a garage – which is an ongoing issue…
"We rebuilt a crib five years ago that was a 19th century cottage originally occupied by the boat builder for the Karitane fishing fleet… It was labour of love done in the interests of preserving local heritage buildings… And we have another crib and a commercial cherry orchard in Central Otago…
"Another 'job' apart from being a lawyer…"
Born in Dunedin when she was meant to be born in West Otago, Sally says she was a difficult birth. "And my mother would say things haven't changed in 53 years…"
"I didn't live in Dunedin until I was nine… I went to Otago Girls High School where limited career guidance was given…
"You were going to be a schoolteacher or a nurse… Both my parents were school teachers so there no way in Hell I was going to do that… I faint at the sight of blood so my options were quite limited…
"I did debating at school. In the 7th form lawyer Michael Guest came along to chair a debate… He told me I should definitely pursue a career as a lawyer… At that stage he was a person of great mana and I thought if he is telling me to do law I should…"
[At the Otago Women Lawyers Society 30th anniversary dinner tomorrow night 14 October, Sally will share the stage with former High Court judge and Governor-General, fellow OGHS old-girl Dame Silvia Cartwright.]
Sally's law career did not begin immediately.
"I had actually always wanted to be a journalist or television director and at the end of my law degree I applied and, to my great surprise, was accepted as an intern at Television New Zealand…
"I spent a year training to be a TV director and loved it… I worked on Spot On and ViewFinder, the children's current events show, and working on the local news show with Jim Mora…
"I was offered a position with the religious programmes unit in Christchurch, that held no great appeal to me… So I returned to do my professional legal studies course in Dunedin…
"I managed to bag a job as a law clerk at the Crown Solicitors office in Dunedin and quickly realised that Michael Guest was right… My career as a litigator started, working for Dennis Woods then Bill Wright…"
And earlier this year when she was rejigging her own firm's website her small screen directing skills came in handy.
"I made a small movie with the help of some trained people locally…We may be the only law firm in world with a movie on its website…"
[Have a look at A Year in the Life of Joe Clienton the Polson McMillan website.]
Sally and Fraser have two boys – one at secondary school and the other doing a law degree (despite parental discouragement against it) and keen on being a sports lawyer.
"The boys are practically identical to me in that they both have very strong right brain capacity – creative and lateral thinking… We are cr*p at science or maths, which means you do arts or law…"
She has six female cousins on the maternal side of the family who all have law degrees or practise as lawyers. "That must be some kind of a record…"
"My grandmother was a great collector of china and I'm similar… I have collected Crown Lynn crockery from when you could pick up pieces for 20 cents… In Auckland the other day I saw a Crown Lynn vase for $980 – I have one practically identical I'm sure I paid less than $1 for in 1978, so I'm feeling quite smug…
"It would be indiscreet to say how much I have got… More than a shelf full, spread across different locations…
"My mother was an art teacher so I got into art… In Dunedin in the 70s and 80s you could pick up a Ralph Hotere painting for $400, so I did…
"I read a lot… Good Manners For Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck, by US advice goddess Amy Alkon, is reaffirming for those of us of a certain age… I bought 10 copies to give to my friends…
"If you live in Dunedin you have to have a contract with yourself that you are going to escape a few times a year… We generally manage to have a month overseas every year to balance things out…
"We always go to concerts and have booked to go to Bruce Springsteen in Christchurch, excited… We heard Gustav Holst's The Planets at the Sydney Opera House…
"Yoga is my sanctuary from a frantic life and it's important to get the work life balance thing happening…
"My husband is a medal winning wine taster so we have a great interest in food and wine, with special dinners every couple of months…
"My first dinner guest would be my late grandmother Wanaka Inder (they say she was conceived in Wanaka). She died when I was in my early 20s and I would like now, with a few more miles on the clock, to talk to her more than I did…
"She was a very adventurous person… She and grandfather went around the world in 1962 in a boat… She would be up for whatever we put on the table but coming from the Maniototo, possibly lamb chops…
"I'd also have Helen Mirren because she's wonderful… and Jung Chang who wrote Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China… Different but influential and interesting women… And I would definitely pour chardonnay…
"I guess I was attracted to law because I am tenacious and argumentative… I debated at school and for Otago University…
"I had Michael Laws, Chris Trotter and David Pine (former guitarist with Dunedin band Sneaky Feelings, now High Commissioner to Malaysia) in my team…
"My love of the law grew from my time at university.… It was serendipitous getting a job at the Crown Solicitor's office and going down to the High Court to be shouted at by the late Justice Sir Alan Holland for the entire morning… He made my life Hell for a number of years and I think he put a lot of women lawyers off practising litigation in Otago…
"I have not thought about an alternative career… Perhaps do some writing… I have a blog which I update usually when we are travelling and I have written article for various magazines from time to time…
"I fancied journalism and have always had a healthy love and loathing of the press…
"The difficulty with becoming a judge is you have to leave town… Dunedin is full of senior lawyers who would qualify but don't like to leave town…
"When I did my overseas experience I had a good job in a law firm in the UK but decided to return to Dunedin to start a family… It is easier to have it all in Dunedin…"
"Dunedin isn't cold… We are going to London for New Year to freeze our *rses off… Then we are going to Cuba in January and I have not told the kids they will be two weeks without wifi…
"At university I did a history degree and developed a love of oral history… I am listening my way through an oral history of my mother I commissioned last year…
"In past years I have also commissioned oral histories through the Law Society of early women lawyers and I am using some of that material in my speech on October 14…"
Timaru-based Jock Anderson has been writing and commenting on New Zealand lawyers and New Zealand's courts for most of his career in journalism. Contact Jock at jockanderson123@gmail.com.