International Workshop on Remedies for Breach of Privacy

International Workshop on Remedies for Breach of Privacy | Melbourne Law School

^{Sir Michael Tugendhat speaking on the topic of Privacy Injunctions and the Rule of Law}

On 12-13 December 2016 the Centre for Media and Communications Law at Melbourne Law School hosted the International Workshop on Remedies for Breach of Privacy, a collaborative project between Melbourne Law School and Victoria University of Wellington. This two-day workshop included presentations from leading academics, judges and practitioners from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The papers will be published as an edited collection in 2017, to be edited by the convenors of the workshop, Dr Jason N E  Varuhas (Associate Professor, Melbourne Law School) and Dr Nicole Moreham (Associate Professor, Victoria University of Wellington Faculty of Law).

The motivation for the workshop is the development over the last fifteen years, across common law jurisdictions, of actions for breach of privacy in equity and at common law. With these developments apex courts are increasingly being called upon to elaborate the rules and principles governing remedies for such actions including damages and injunctions, yet very little has been written on these topics despite their great practical significance. The aim of this workshop was to lead thinking and provide answers to pressing issues facing apex courts by bringing together experts drawn from the academy, practice and the judiciary, and from the legal disciplines implicated by privacy remedies, including torts, equity, and human rights law. This coming together of different types of experts led to a rich and stimulating discourse which greatly advanced thinking on this cutting edge topic.

The workshop was made possible by funding from the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Melbourne Law School International Collaboration Fund.

Speakers included:
Professor Jeff Berryman, University of Windsor
Professor Robyn Carroll, University of Western Australia
Dr Eric Descheemaeker, Edinburgh Law School
Professor Barbara McDonald, University of Sydney
Dr Nicole Moreham, Victoria University Wellington
Hon Marcia Neave, Melbourne Law School and formerly Victoria Court of Appeal
Professor Megan Richardson, Melbourne Law School
Mr Michael Rivette, Victorian Bar
Professor David Rolph, University of Sydney
Professor Robert Stevens, University of Oxford
Sir Michael Tugendhat, formerly English High Court
Dr Peter Turner, University of Cambridge
Dr Jason N E Varuhas, Melbourne Law School

Other participants included Justice Chris Maxwell, President of the Victoria Court of Appeal, Professor Emeritus Michael Bryan, Melbourne Law School, and Mr Jason Bosland, Melbourne Law School.

^{The workshop convenors, Dr Jason Varuhas and Dr Nicole Moreham}