Matthew Richardson SC
Matthew’s primary area of expertise is in privacy and media and defamation law. He has extensive trial experience and is retained for urgent applications involving injunctive relief and suppression orders. He appears for defamation plaintiffs and defendants and gives pre-publication advice.
Since 2022 Matthew has been the Co-Chair of the NSW Bar Association Media and Information Law and Technology which amongst other masters assists the NSW Bar in advising on law reform in the defamation, privacy and AI spaces.
Major Cases
- Lehrmann v Network Ten Pty Ltd (Trial Judgment) [2024] FCA 369
- Roberts-Smith v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited (No 41) [2023] FCA 555
- Chau v Fairfax Media Publications[2019] FCA 185, Australian Broadcasting Corporation v Chau Chak Wing [2019] FCAFC 125
- Chris Gayle v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd[2017] NSWSC 1261, Fairfax Media Publications v Gayle [2019] NSWCA 172
- Ben Roberts-Smith v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited (No 2) [2019] FCA 1626
- McLachlan v Browne (No 8)[2018] NSWSC 1968, McLachlan v Browne (No 7) [2018] NSWSC 1914
- Bolton v Stoltenberg[2018] NSWSC 1518
Matthew has also appeared in the Supreme and District Courts of NSW and Federal Court of Australia for media defendants including Channel Nine, Channel Seven, Google and Harbour Radio. Recent matters include:
- Greiss v Seven Network (Operations) Ltd (No 2) [2024] FCA 98
- Molan v Dailymail.com Australia Pty Ltd [2022] FCA 1004; Dailymail.com Australia Pty Ltd v Molan [2023] FCAFC 26
- Nassif v Seven Network (Operations) Ltd [2021] FCA 1286
- TCN Channel Nine v Pahuja[2019] NSWCA 166
- KT v Google LLC[2019] NSWSC 1015
- Mohareb v Harbour Radio Pty Limited; Mohareb v Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited; Mohareb v State of NSW[2019] NSWSC 270
- Noble v Phillips (No 3) [2019] NSWSC 110
- Parizian v Seven Network Limited [2018] NSWDC 296
Publications
- The New Privacy Tort’s Contentious Exemption: The ‘Character of News’ (June 2025) Law Society Journal
- What is a Serious Invasion of Privacy? UK Case Law Has the Answers (April 2025) Law Society Journal
- Melania Trump, Her Husband and US Defamation Law (June 2017), Communications Law Bulletin
- A Shot in the Arm for the Defence of Contextual Truth as Attention Turns to Particulars of Justification, (February 2017), Seminar given at UNSW
- The Defence of Contextual Truth and Hore Lacy: Struggling but Still Standing (March 2015)
Professional Recognition
Ranked in Doyles Guide Leading Defamation Law Barristers – Australia, 2026.
Ranked in Doyles Guide as a Leading Technology, Media & Telecommunications Senior Counsel – NSW, 2026