Samantha Phillips was born in Derbyshire, is a graduate of the University of London and has a Masters from the Sorbonne in Paris. Following a background in ship broking and advertising in Paris she joined Lloyd's in 1989, employed by Willis Faber & Dumas as a broker in their aviation division.In November 1992 she left Willis Faber and began legal action against the company. Two weeks later she published the first edition of Inside Eye, a magazine that revealed what went on behind the scenes at Lloyd's. After a two-year struggle she won a highly publicised court case against her former employers. Samantha Phillips lives in London and now writes full time.