If you ever hurt yourself on holiday, do yourself a favour and call Victoria Roy.

Victoria, the 282nd person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, specialises in a niche area of the law – the intersection of personal injury and travel. She represents travellers bringing injury compensation claims following cruise ship accidents, aircraft accidents and accidents overseas.

Victoria is one of Australia’s leading travel accident law specialists. She’s the principal of Victory Travel & Cruise Lawyers and is the chair of the Travel Law Special Interest Group at the Australian Lawyers Alliance.

Most personal injury lawyers don’t know how to handle travel cases because of the jurisdictional challenges. 

If someone who bought a holiday in Australia hurts themselves on a Marshall Islands-registered cruise liner while it’s in American waters, where do you initiate legal action? And if the answer is overseas, how do you handle a case in a foreign jurisdiction? Victoria knows. Most lawyers don’t, though, because travel law is such a niche area.

Victoria wants nothing more than for everyone to return from their holidays in one piece. But if you do hurt yourself, she says, make sure you report the incident so there’s an official record of the event. And collect as much evidence as possible, such as photos, witness statements and medical records, so your claim is easier to prove.