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Two-time Dux, Lloyd Miller, tells us how he found his place in tax

Published: 3 Sep 2025

   

Julie Abdalla speaks at the Senate Hearing

Two-time Dux of both CTA1 and CTA2A, Lloyd Miller, shares his unconventional journey from philosophy and care support work to music, before becoming a tax lawyer and how studying CTA subjects helped consolidate his tax knowledge. 

 Lloyd completed an arts degree at The University of Melbourne, where he majored in philosophy, then pursued a Juris Doctor at Monash University to start his career as a tax lawyer. In 2023, he began working at Hall & Willcox as a graduate lawyer, and later joined the tax team. 

"I am very new to the tax world," Lloyd told us.  

Despite his short tenure, Lloyd boasts diverse experience. As a relatively new tax lawyer, he hasn’t yet settled in a niche, instead working across a number of areas in the tax team at Hall & Willcox.  

"That includes our duties practice, business transactions, corporate restructuring, and succession planning. My main work is in tax disputes acting for high-net-worth individuals, dealing from pre-audit to litigation,” he said. 

Lloyd’s journey so far as a tax lawyer 

We were curious about Lloyd's journey to becoming a tax lawyer, because it wasn’t a straightforward path, taking him through various other disciplines and passions before landing in the world of tax. 

"I was a care support worker, and I played and produced music and studied philosophy – a combination of things that makes my destination as a tax lawyer seem very unlikely, but here we are!" he said.  

After completing his graduate rotation at Hall & Wilcox, he was drawn to the everchanging nature of tax. "... there’s a lot of variety in the sort of matters that we do, both transactions and litigation work, we work with private clients and corporate matters, we do federal and state taxes. I like that because it keeps things fresh, and I always need to be on my toes!" 

So why study with The Tax Institute? 

 “I don’t have any prior tax or accounting experience at all, so it was important to me to consolidate the practical information that I learn at work with a good theoretical base. I completed CTA1 and found it very helpful as someone without any prior tax knowledge or experience. The team encouraged me to continue on with CTA2A, so I did,” Lloyd told us. 

This proved to be a sound strategy, as the theory he learnt in his CTA subjects shed new light on the work he was doing. “All the accounting principals were new to me, and those have been really helpful to have moving forward in my career as everything just makes a lot more sense!”  

 Managing work, study and personal life 

Lloyd attributes his ability to balance work, study and his personal life to the support of his fiancé, Tilly. The team at Hall & Wilcox were also supportive, allowing him to take time out of his workday to prepare for his exam. Team work really does make the dream work! 

Advice for tax professionals considering further study 

So, what advice does Lloyd have for other young professionals?  

“I can only speak for my own experience as someone junior to the profession, but I found the CTA course really helpful as a first step to build my knowledge base, and I recommend to anyone who is interested to give it a go.”