Lynne Spender is the sister of Dale Spender, one of the three children of Harry and Ivy Spender. She grew up at Windsor, New South Wales, in a rural setting. The family moved to Sydney in 1957 where she completed her education. Spender has worked as a writer, teacher, manager, publisher and editor. Since publishing her first book in 1982, she has written and edited over 20 books in the areas of law and women's studies. She was executive director for five years at the Australian Society of Authors and then for five years at the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association.
Spender was involved with a range of arts and cultural organisations and held degrees from three different Universities in Arts, Law, English, Sociology and Education. In 2007 she was a PhD candidate at the Centre for Cultural Research (CCR) at University of Western Sydney (UWS). Her research focused on digital culture (the practices, values and attitudes of those for whom digital technology is their primary mode of creativity) and the challenge that this culture poses to copyright laws. As a part of the project she studied the Swedish 'Pirate Party'.
