Best Lawyers in Australia for Defamation and Media Law
Ben acts for clients across a diverse range of industries including mining, technology, medical and life sciences, building and construction, automotive, retail, food, and secondary and higher education. Ben also acts and has acted for major franchisors including G.J. Gardner, Lenard’s, Ray White Real Estate, Hog’s Breath Café, Domino’s Pizza and Refund Home Loans. He is based in Brisbane and advises national and international clients across the Federal Court of Austr...
Marlia is an experienced media, entertainment, intellectual property, online safety and privacy lawyer, who advises media organisations, content creators, digital platforms, corporations and government departments on matters relating to defamation, pre-publication advice, suppression orders, copyright and trade marks, advertising and marketing, online safety and privacy, drawing on both top-tier private practice and senior in-house counsel experience. She acts for Australia’s major medi...
Tony acts for a broad range of clients including technology companies, drug developers, medical device manufacturers, IT businesses, and franchisors. He has advised on commercialisation of technologies from startups through to IPO and trade sale, including drug development, medical devices, IT and other technology sectors. His clients have included Australian companies expanding internationally and international companies entering the Australian market. Tony advises on complex commercial agre...
Justin acts for Australia’s largest media and technology companies, including News Corp Australia, Nine, all three commercial television networks (Seven, Nine and Ten), national radio stations, AFL Media, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and technology companies including X Corp, Google and Reddit. Justin is available 24/7 for urgent advice and is ranked Band 1 by Chambers Asia Pacific for Media for 15 consecutive years — the longest uninterrupted Band 1 ranking for Media ...
Sophie is a media lawyer and litigator with extensive expertise in media and defamation matters. She specialises in defamation, contempt of court, suppression orders, freedom of information and court access applications, confidential information claims, privacy law, pre-publication advice, copyright and cyber safety law. She has acted for and advised many of Australia’s largest media organisations, large corporations and politicians, authors, and high profile/high net worth individuals ...
Ian is a corporate, commercial, media and regulatory lawyer who advises a wide range of Australian and overseas clients with particular emphasis on the media, advertising, automotive and renewable energy industries, as well as government departments and agencies. His recent experience includes: public policy, public sector governance, and regulatory issues including as the Chair and Deputy Chair of State and Commonwealth statutory agencies advising global car manufacturers on Australian regul...
After 12 years at the Bar, combining advocacy and mediation work, Deborah commenced full time practice as a mediator in 2016. Deborah has been conducting mediations since 2000, initially as a court appointed mediator/Registrar of the Supreme Court and from 2004 in private practice. Deborah is an accredited mediator under the Australian National Mediator Standards and is appointed to both the Supreme and District Court mediation panels. She was a member of the ADR Committee of the Bar Associat...
Joel Parsons is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Defamation and Media Law and Entertainment Law. Joel, who practices law in Sydney, Australia, has been recognized since 2027. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Joel is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Hamish McNair is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Defamation and Media Law and Litigation. Hamish, who practices law in Melbourne, Australia, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Hamish is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
John-Paul acts for Australia’s major media organisations, including News Corp Australia, Channel Nine, Channel Seven, Nine Newspapers, AFL Media, Racing.com, the ABC, SBS Australia, Southern Cross Austereo and Radio 3AW. John-Paul provides daily pre-publication advice seven days a week and 24/7 on urgent matters to editors and newsrooms across the country. John-Paul specialises in defamation, contempt of court, suppression orders, privilege, breach of confidence, freedom of information,...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.