I am an experienced legal editor with 10 years in legal publishing with expertise in editing law journal articles and postgraduate theses, mainly in law and history, equipped with structural and copy editing, technical editing, project management and author liaison skills. I possess a Graduate Certificate in Editing and Publishing from the University of Technology, Sydney. My other passion is for creative fiction and non-fiction writing in the English language.  With 20 years’ experience working as a librarian in law firms, non-government organisations and two state government departments I have a keen eye for detail and an ability to notice incorrect spelling and English grammar. Those years also have given me skills in research and information management. Excellent working knowledge of Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC) (Melbourne University Law Review Association, 4th ed, 2020) and The Australian Government Style Manual (Online).

Freelance editor from March 2015 to the present:

Copy editing Legal journal articles

Currently I am copy editing legal journal articles covering medical law, competition law, environmental and planning law, torts law and property law published by Thomson Reuters.

Editor of The Ceylankan – Quarterly Journal of The Ceylon Society of Australia (from 2021 to the present) – Voluntary work

I am editing a historical journal of a society interested in publicising the historical and cultural heritage of Sri Lanka in English. The work involves commissioning articles from authors and academics, copy and structural editing the material and using InDesign to organise the material in a publishable format.

Copy Editing Master’s Thesis – Private International Law (2022)

Inma Conde, ‘Regard is to be had’: Meaning of Article 7(1) of The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the Sale of Goods from a Legislative History Perspective (Macquarie University, August 2022). Checking clarity of expression, grammar, style, and tone. Proofreading – checking for spelling errors, typing mistakes, and correcting cross referencing errors in footnotes.

Proofreading two novels for Ventura Press (2017)

• Proofreading Neon Pilgrim by Lisa Dempster and The Last Long Drop by Mike Safe.
• Checking final proofs for grammar, spelling and layout.
• Checking for orphans, widows, stacking of words and consistent italics for foreign words.

Copy editing Master’s Thesis (2016)

Hitomi Koyama, On the State of International Politics of History: Reflection on the palimpsest state of agency and the Historians’ Anxieties over the discourse on “comfort women” (Australian Catholic University, 2016). Improving and correcting each sentence, looking at accuracy, consistency, grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Website updating (2015-2016)

From March 2015 to October 2016 I worked on a website upgrading project for the Council of Law Reporting for NSW and posting new cases on the website as they are chosen for reporting. This involved working with WordPress web development software for editing and writing new content.

Memoir (2015)

I have proofread, copy edited and provided constructive content feedback on characterisation, structure, pace, narrative voice and style the following works by Adam Aitken:

Aitken, Adam
    One Hundred Letters Home: a memoir. Sydney: Vagabond, 2015.
    The Fire Sermon: a novel being a part of: Writing the hybrid: Asian Imaginaries in Australian Literature. (Doctorate in Creative Arts, 2006).

The manuscripts were marked for correction typesetting errors, grammatical, spelling errors and inconsistencies in punctuation.

Master’s Dissertation (2015)

• Post-Cold War Dystopias: a critical analysis of US foreign policy in the Middle East. I proofread and copy edited the 75,000 word manuscript and took on board author queries and made suggestions to improve the final manuscript.

XML data conversion project for a law firm (2015)

• I converted a 250 page opinion by a partner of a law firm on mining legislation in Western Australia from WORD to XML. I used the XML tags to build tables of cases and legislation in front of the document.

At Thomson Reuters from March 2009 to February 2015

Key Achievements
Editing – Coded, Updated and Managed Digest publications – Proofread and coded case notes, case metadata and legislation for Digest publications to a high degree so that content was accurate and up to date in accordance with the high standard of Thomson Reuters products (this involved XML and Topix coding, formatting, creating tables and indexes and verifying references where required). Compiled and checked tables and indexes for inclusion of new information. Liaised with Print Production and ensured that edited manuscripts and updates were processed efficiently and in accordance with publishing schedules. Ensured that case notes and metadata were correctly tagged in XML for paper and online formats, and typesetting was completed in-house. Verified case and legislation citations using Thomson Reuters’ research tools and updated Thomson Reuters’ databases with case details. Provided internal authors with case notes, case details and other information as required.
Communication – Managed internal author relationships – Built productive and continuing working relationships with internal authors and provided them with case notes, case details and other reference information. Published supplements to the Australian Digest in collaboration with the Digest Production Team where each team member was responsible for a suite of subject areas or chapters.
Product Development – Developed product enhancements by identifying processes and aspects that needed improvement. Assisted with projects to improve technology.
Project Management – Maintained product records by updating process documentation, production tracking information, product manual and production schedule.
Customer service – Provided support to customer service by answering queries from their team. Prepared product information reports for sales representatives. Assisted customers directly with content queries they had in relation to Thomson Reuters’ products.

At Lexis Nexis from August 2005 to February 2009

Key Achievements
Technical Editing – Provided technical editorial support for the various looseleaf publications using Xyvision Looseleaf Publishing software for streamlining the update of pages in frequently revised publications, significantly reducing the time and cost. Used Xyvision Production Publisher for automatic, high-speed batch composition and pagination, graphics handling, tagging and coding using SGML and XML and in conjunction with Content@, a content and document management application that manages source data in a structured environment while providing users the ability to continue using common desktop applications such as Microsoft Word.
Legislation Editing – Downloaded new and amending legislation from official government websites and prepared content for online publication on LexisNexis’s online client facing platform. Edited meta data using XML for each legislation title recording commencement information, provisions that amend other legislation and gazettal information. Monitored Federal and state parliaments for new bills and the progress of existing bills and published alerts on the online client facing platform. These tasks were done ensuring accuracy, currency, relevance, conformance to in house editorial standards, accessibility and timeliness. Performed research into new developments in legislation. Assisted and trained other team members as required;
Project Management – Adhered to daily publishing schedule and deadlines and made sure that content is uploaded onto the client facing platform in the required turn-around time. Implemented agreed plans for product enhancements;
Communication – Built effective relationships with colleagues, customers and management by ensuring efficient execution of day-today operations and strategic plans. These included communicating with information technology teams such as Electronic Product Development and Content Engineering Teams regarding daily publishing and editorial processing issues.

At Clayton Utz Lawyers from May 2003 to August 2005

Key Achievements:
As Precedents Editor I created precedents in line with Clayton Utz national styles and standards using the I-Deal Docs document automation system;
Created templates for groups of documents with common characteristics using Microsoft Word;
Developed document automation in line with guidelines;
Maintained precedents according to guidelines.

LIBRARIAN / EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
FROM: 1985  TO: May 2003

Librarian at Clayton Utz Lawyers, United Voice, Gadens Lawyers, Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, NSW Departments of Health and Education until I changed career to being an editor in May 2003.

Editorial Assistant at Anstat Pty Ltd (now SAI Global) from September 1988 to April 1990

Key Achievements:  Annotated amending legislation using Digital MicroVAX and WordPerfect computer systems.  Monitored government gazettes for legislative amendments.  Maintained and updated commencement details for legislation from government gazettes.  Backed up daily and weekly of data input.  Proofread legal information.  Provided up to date commencement information of legislation on Anstat’s telephone hotline service.  Maintained and updated Anstat’s spin off services such as the Legislative Summary, the Bulletins and legislative information on subjects such as commercial law, workers’ compensation, building codes, real estate, health and education.

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COMPUTING KNOWLEDGE

Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Word and Outlook;

Excellent working knowledge of InDesign;

Excellent working knowledge of XML and Abortext editorial software package;

Excellent working knowledge of TOPIX coding and Epic Editor;

Good working knowledge of Xyvision Production Publisher (XPP) using Content@ document management application;

Good working knowledge of Docs Open;

Good working knowledge of web page design using Microsoft Front Page;

Good working knowledge of Excel, Microsoft Access and PowerPoint;

Good working knowledge of HTML using Anansi web page design software package and SGML.

https://au.linkedin.com/in/araffel