Educated in Perth and Melbourne and holding a Bachelor of Laws (with honours) degree from Melbourne University, Peter has over 37 years experience in legal practice. He has been a Partner (and Managing Partner in both Perth and Melbourne) of the national law firm now called Deacons and was the inaugural Melbourne Partner in Andersen Legal (the Sydney and Melbourne based law firm which was part of the Arthur Andersen organisation). In 1999, Peter joined Normandy Mining Limited (then Australia's largest gold mining company) as a Group Executive and Group Legal Counsel. Following the 2002 takeover of Normandy Mining by Newmont Mining Corporation of the US, Peter established Watsons Lawyers.

Over Peter's lengthy career he has acted for major players in the automotive, mining (particularly gold mining) and construction industries as well as a wide range of clients in many other industries. He has worked extensively in the mergers and acquisitions field, in takeovers, schemes of arrangement, trade sales and commercial joint ventures. He has represented bidders for numerous major projects, including what are now Melbourne's Citilink freeway system and Crown Casino, Loy Yang B Power Station and several hospital projects. He advised Melbourne University in connection with the development of the University Square complex which consists of three state-of-the-art multi-storey buildings including the new Law School. This was the largest single development in the University's history, costing in excess of $250 million.

Peter also has extensive experience in all aspects of the resources industries and in corporate, project, multicurrency and commodity based financing.