Claire Baylis is a fiction writer and legal researcher based in Rotorua.
After 12 years as a law lecturer at Victoria University, Claire Baylis joined a trans-Tasman Jury Research project, and was granted the rare opportunity to attend trials and then interview the jurors about the cases.
She says it gave her unique insight into the issues jurors face and how they worked to reach their decisions.
In 2021, Claire Baylis was awarded a PhD in Creative Writing at Victoria University, which combined academic research, with a writing project - in her case a novel.
What's resulted is Dice, a gripping courtroom drama set in Rotorua told through the eyes of the twelve jurors.
The story centres on a case where four teenage boys are accused of sexual offences, after inventing a sex game based on the roll of a dice.
Photo: Supplied / Kate Tokeley
