He practised law in his native New Zealand, then in England and New York, and found his work at last in environmental litigation in California, prosecuting violators of the Clean Water Act. He was flying west to finish one last case before taking his wife and young daughter to India for a year, where he was to advise on pollution and deforestation.

Killed aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which came down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on the morning of 11 September 2001. The aircraft had left Newark forty-two minutes late, which is the only reason those aboard learned by telephone what had already happened in New York before theirs was taken. They had about thirty minutes. They voted, and they went forward at the cockpit door. The aircraft never reached what it was aimed at.