Cheryl completed her Bachelor of Arts at the University of New South Wales and studied for a Bachelor of Laws while she was Law Librarian at Macquarie University. She was Director of Continuing Legal Education at the Law Faculty of the University of New South Wales (1993-1998) and subsequently lectured in law at the University of Newcastle.

In 2014, she completed her PhD: From Expressivism to Communication in Transitional Justice: A Study of the Trial Procedure of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia at the Australian National University.