5RB is pleased to announce that Tom Blackburn SC (Australia) is joining Chambers as a tenant from 5 September 2016.
Tom is one of the leading media law and defamation silks in Australia. He has acted for both plaintiffs and media defendants, including the main newspaper, television and media groups in Australia, in Federal and State courts, at first instance and on appeal. He has extensive experience in injunctions and urgent relief applications. Tom recently appeared for Google in the appeal in Duffy v Google Inc, in which the issues of liability for publication after notice, and liability for hyperlinks, are under consideration.
Although Senior Counsel in Australia, Tom will be practising here as a senior junior. He will practise in many of Chambers’ core areas including breach of confidence and privacy, contempt, anti-discrimination cases as they affect the media, and administrative law.
Joint Head of Chambers Desmond Browne QC said: “The family reasons which have brought Tom to London are a tremendous stroke of luck for both 5RB and our clients. He has had a stellar media law practice throughout Australia, and a colleague there tells me that there will be many Sydney silks licking their lips at the practice he has left behind. I am sure that in no time he will be repeating the success he had down under here in London.”
Tom will be attending Conference5RB on 29th September (tickets available here) where he will be joining Jacob Dean and Chloe Strong for the Internet & Social Media workshop.
Tom’s full profile is available here.