Defamation
Defamation occurs where a false publication about someone that has the effect of harming their reputation is communicated from one person to another.
Your reputation is how you and your business are seen by others. It is the foundation of trust and confidence in a person or business. If you suffer reputational damage, whether through online, media or social media defamation, it has significant personal and professional consequences.
While many high-profile defamation cases involve celebrities and mainstream media, the value of a positive reputation to any person or business holds value that is worth protecting. Defamation lawyers can help you make a claim.
How we can help
Whether you are seeking to protect your own reputation or you have been accused of defaming another person or business, we can provide you with succinct and practical advice about how to enforce your rights and protect your interests. The costs and complexity of reputational disputes means that our primary focus is to resolve reputational claims as promptly and efficiently as the circumstances will allow. If early resolution is unachievable, we also have extensive litigation experience in this area and can persuasively argue your case in conjunction with experienced Counsel.
If you or your business wishes to proactively manage defamation risk, we can also provide pre-publication advice in which we can suggest amendments and strategies to avoid potential claims. In these situations, we have observed that the consideration of defamation risk at an early stage can significantly help to avoid the financial and other burdens of subsequent litigation.
Initiating claims for reputational harm
For individuals or directors of small businesses and not-for-profit corporations, we can advise you in relation to your rights and, if appropriate, issue a Concerns Notice under the relevant defamation legislation or other correspondence to the publisher(s) of defamatory material requiring that action be taken to avoid and remedy reputational harm. If the identity or other details of the publisher is unknown, we can advise you in relation to the appropriateness of initiating a court proceeding against a third party requiring them to reveal this information.
For reputational claims arising from the emerging area of digital defamation (particularly on social media platforms), we can also provide you with practical and strategic advice in relation to the available options for removing offensive and defamatory material in parallel with legal avenues.
Responding to reputational claims
If you have received a Concerns Notice or other complaint regarding matters you have published, we can provide you with advice regarding your potential exposure and recommend strategies for resolution, which may include making a formal Offer to Make Amends under the defamation legislation in each Australian jurisdiction. We can also explore informal negotiations on your behalf, with a view to avoiding any unnecessary escalation, which is invariably to the detriment of all parties.
Our defamation experience
Our extensive experience in this area includes the following:
- Acting for medical, educational and other professionals in relation to defamatory publications that have caused reputational harm, including via mainstream print and broadcast media.
- Acting for individual parties to defamation proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia, the Supreme Courts of New South Wales and Victoria and in various intermediate courts including the District Court of New South Wales and the County Court of Victoria.
- Providing pre-publication risk advice to companies and individuals in relation to draft professional publications, podcasts, public campaigns and online content.
- Acting for small businesses in relation to defamatory and offensive digital content including via Google Reviews, leading product review websites, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X (twitter).
- Initiating applications for preliminary discovery to identify publishers of defamatory matters in the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Victoria.
- Acting for State, Territory and Local Government departments and agencies in relation to defamation claims initiated by aggrieved persons in Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory.
- Acting for professional athletes, sporting bodies, politicians and corporate directors in response to defamatory public campaigns.
- Representing individuals in relation to false and defamatory reporting in mainstream print and broadcast media, including misuse of personal imagery.
- Advising survivors of sexual assault and victims of other misconduct in relation to the management of risk associated with publicly sharing their experiences for public benefit.
