R
Michael Rivette
Barrister  ·  Privacy  ·  Data Protection  ·  Technology  ·  Advocacy

Twenty-five years shaping
Australian privacy law.

Michael Rivette is a barrister at the Victorian Bar practising in privacy law, data protection, technology law, intellectual property, commercial law, and advocacy. He has appeared in and initiated the cases that defined the field, authored the leading texts, and shaped the law from the bar table for more than two decades.

Best Lawyers: “Lawyer of the Year, Privacy and Data Protection” for 2026–2027 and 2020.

Lawyer of the Year

Privacy & Data Protection

Best Lawyers

2026–2027

Best Lawyers®
Lawyer of the Year

Privacy & Data Protection

Best Lawyers

2020

Best Lawyers®
Leading Barrister

Technology, Media & Telecoms

Doyles Guide

2019

Doyles Guide
Leading Barrister

Intellectual Property

Doyles Guide

2018

Doyles Guide
Michael Rivette, Barrister, Victorian Bar

Recognition & awards

Lawyer of the Year

Privacy and Data Protection

Best Lawyers

2026–2027

Best Lawyers®
Lawyer of the Year

Privacy and Data Protection

Best Lawyers

2020

Best Lawyers®
Leading Barrister

Technology, Media & Telecommunications

Doyles Guide

2019

Doyles Guide
Leading Barrister

Intellectual Property

Doyles Guide

2018

Doyles Guide

Leading Lawyer, Privacy and Data Protection

Best Lawyers

2019–2026 (continuous)

Senior Fellow, Privacy Law, Master of Laws

Melbourne Law School

Current

Co-author, The Law of Privacy and the Media

Oxford University Press

Leading international text

Co-author, Remedies for Breach of Privacy

Hart Publishing

Leading international text

Privacy Class Actions (2020) 94 ALJ 791

Australian Law Journal

Seminal article

Editorial Board, Privacy Law Bulletin

LexisNexis

Current

Privacy class actions

He appears in
Australia's most significant privacy litigation.

Michael Rivette has been at the centre of the development of Australian privacy law, as the practitioner who initiated, structured, and appeared as counsel in the cases that established this field, including its landmark class actions. His article Privacy Class Actions (2020) 94 ALJ 791 remains the seminal text on privacy class action litigation in Australia.

Lead counsel · Lead plaintiff

Evans v Health Administration Corp [2019] NSWSC 1781

Australia's first privacy class action to obtain compensation for class members, the template for all subsequent mass privacy breach litigation.

Counsel

McClure v Medibank Limited

One of Australia's largest data breach class actions, arising from the breach affecting approximately 9.7 million customers.

Counsel · Court of Appeal

Giller v Procopets (2008) 24 VR 1

The foundational Victorian Court of Appeal decision that gave breach of confidence the capacity to protect individual privacy in Australia.

Counsel

Privacy Commissioner v Telstra (2017) 249 FCR 24

Full Federal Court decision on the scope of personal information under the Privacy Act, with broad application across Australian industry.

Commercial law

Over 25 years of
hands-on commercial experience.

Michael Rivette has a broad commercial law practice, covering complex commercial disputes, contract construction, corporations law, and the commercial dimensions of technology, media, and intellectual property transactions.

As an owner, director, and board member across media, communications, and technology businesses for over 25 years, Michael offers clients practical, commercially focused advice grounded in real-world business insight. He is known for his strategic thinking, collaborative style, and clear, solutions-oriented advocacy.

Commercial practice →

Matters include

Complex commercial disputes · Contract construction & enforcement · Corporations law · Technology & IP transactions · Misleading & deceptive conduct · Commercial litigation · Equity & injunctions

Experience

Owner, director & board member across media, communications & technology, for over 35 years. Actively involved in media, tech, IT & communications sectors.

Briefing Michael Rivette

Available to be briefed by solicitors
and in some matters, directly.

Michael Rivette is available to be briefed by instructing solicitors for advisory, regulatory, and litigation matters across all areas of practice.

In certain circumstances, Michael is also available to be retained directly by clients without an instructing solicitor, under the Direct Access provisions of the Legal Profession Uniform Conduct (Barristers) Rules 2015. He can advise whether a matter is appropriate for direct engagement or requires an instructing solicitor when you make contact.

When an instructing solicitor is required

Most litigation, class action work, appearances in court, and complex advisory matters require an instructing solicitor. Michael will advise when briefing through a solicitor is appropriate or necessary.

When direct access may be available

For certain advisory opinions, strategic counsel, and matters that do not require litigation steps, direct access may be available. Contact Michael to discuss your matter and he will advise on the most appropriate engagement model.

For law firms

Michael works with law firms as a specialist capability extension, providing barrister-level privacy and technology law expertise to supplement your firm's practice. See the For Law Firms section.

Michael Rivette is a barrister practising at the Victorian Bar. He does not act as a solicitor, and will advise when a solicitor is required. Contact: rivette@chancery.com.au

A barrister's discipline, applied at the point where the decision is made, is the highest-value counsel an organisation can receive. That is what Michael Rivette brings to every brief. the thinking of a practitioner who has been in the cases, applied before the problem becomes a matter.

01

Law Firms

Michael Rivette is available to be briefed in privacy, technology, intellectual property, and commercial law. He brings to every brief the judgment of a barrister who has appeared in significant cases, written the leading texts and articles in Privacy Law, and operated in the technology and commercial world for over 35 years. Your client will receive advice and representation that is legally authoritative and grounded in practical commercial reality.

02

Corporations & Institutions

Major organisations facing privacy, data, and technology law matters may engage Michael directly for appropriate advisory work, whether through in-house counsel or on a direct access basis, with referral to external solicitors where the matter requires it.

03

Individuals

Individuals in privacy matters, including under the new Serious Invasion of Privacy tort, may be able to engage Michael directly in certain circumstances. Michael will advise whether a solicitor is required.

About Michael Rivette
Michael Rivette, Barrister

Currently appearing

Michael Rivette continues to appear in courts and tribunals across all Australian jurisdictions in privacy, technology, and intellectual property matters.

Key matters

Evans v Health Administration Corp [2019] NSWSC 1781
McClure v Medibank Limited
Giller v Procopets (2008) 24 VR 1
Privacy Commissioner v Telstra (2017) 249 FCR 24
Brannaghan v Thales Pty Ltd [2013] FCA 790

One of Australia's
foremost privacy barristers.

Michael Rivette is one of Australia's most recognised barristers in privacy law, data protection, technology law, commercial law, and intellectual property. He has practised at the Victorian Bar for more than 25 years, during which time he has appeared in and helped initiate the cases that defined Australian privacy law.

He appeared as counsel in Giller v Procopets (2008) 24 VR 1, the foundational Victorian Court of Appeal decision that gave breach of confidence the capacity to protect individual privacy. He led Evans v Health Administration Corp [2019] NSWSC 1781, Australia's first privacy class action to obtain compensation for class members. He has appeared in the McClure v Medibank Limited and in Privacy Commissioner v Telstra (2017) 249 FCR 24.

He is the author of Privacy Class Actions (2020) 94 ALJ 791, the seminal article on privacy class actions in Australia. He is the Australian co-author of The Law of Privacy and the Media (Oxford University Press) and co-author of Remedies for Breach of Privacy (Hart Publishing).

Michael is a Senior Fellow at Melbourne Law School, where he teaches Privacy Law in the Master of Laws program. He serves on the Advisory Board for the Centre for Media and Communications Law and on the Editorial Board of the Privacy Law Bulletin (LexisNexis).

Over more than 25 years as an owner, director, and board member across media, communications, and technology businesses, Michael has operated in the environments his clients navigate, where decisions are made under pressure, with real consequences.

Credentials

2026–27Best Lawyers: Lawyer of the Year, Privacy and Data ProtectionBest Lawyers® recognition
2020Best Lawyers: Lawyer of the Year, Privacy and Data ProtectionBest Lawyers® recognition
2019–26Best Lawyers: Leading Lawyer, Privacy and Data Protection (continuous)
2019Doyles: Leading Barrister, Technology, Media & Telecommunications
2018Doyles: Leading Barrister, Intellectual Property
OUPCo-author: The Law of Privacy and the Media (Oxford University Press)
HartCo-author: Remedies for Breach of Privacy (Hart Publishing)
ALJPrivacy Class Actions (2020) 94 ALJ 791, seminal article
MLSSenior Fellow, Melbourne Law School, LLM Privacy Law
BoardAdvisory Board, Centre for Media and Communications Law
BoardEditorial Board, Privacy Law Bulletin (LexisNexis)
Practice Areas

Where the risk lives.

Michael Rivette is briefed by solicitors, and in appropriate matters engaged directly, across privacy law, data protection, technology law, intellectual property, commercial law, and advocacy. The following sets out the principal areas of practice.

§

A litigator's discipline, applied from the start

A career initiating and leading Australia's most significant privacy class actions produces a specific kind of thinking: the ability to see where an argument fails before it is made, to identify what a regulator will want to know, and to understand which decisions made today will determine the outcome in three years. That discipline is available from the first engagement.

Privacy and Data Protection

Michael has been at the centre of Australian privacy law since arguing the foundational issues in Giller v Procopets (2008). He has led Australia's first privacy class action and appeared in Privacy Commissioner v Telstra, one of the most significant Federal Court decisions on personal information under the Privacy Act.

Understanding the regulatory landscape before a breach occurs determines how well it is managed when one happens.

Best Lawyers®: Lawyer of the Year, Privacy and Data Protection  ·  2026–2027
Best Lawyers®: Lawyer of the Year, Privacy and Data Protection  ·  2020
Best Lawyers®: Leading Lawyer, Privacy and Data Protection  ·  2019–2026 (continuous)

Matters include

  • Privacy compliance: advisory opinions
  • OAIC investigations and regulatory proceedings
  • Data breach response: legal strategy and litigation risk
  • Privacy Act reform: regulatory readiness advice
  • Class action strategy and representation
  • Privacy impact assessments: advisory opinions
  • Notifiable Data Breach scheme

Privacy Class Actions

Michael Rivette led Evans v Health Administration Corp [2019] NSWSC 1781 as lead counsel, Australia's first privacy class action to obtain compensation for class members. He has appeared in the McClure v Medibank Limited and authored Privacy Class Actions (2020) 94 ALJ 791, the seminal text in this field.

Michael Rivette initiated Australia's first successful privacy class action. He also wrote the text that defines how they work. That combination is without parallel in Australian practice.

Matters include

  • Class action risk assessment
  • Defence strategy: data breach class action risk
  • Plaintiff representation: privacy class actions
  • Settlement strategy and court approval
  • Regulatory class action proceedings

Technology Law

Michael advises on the full range of technology law matters, including AI governance, data licensing, platform regulation, and the intersection of technology and personal information. His 2019 article in the Privacy Law Bulletin on blockchain and the Australian Privacy Principles remains the leading analysis of that incompatibility.

Doyles Guide: Leading Barrister, Technology, Media & Telecommunications  ·  2019

Matters include

  • Technology contracts: construction and disputes
  • Data licensing, sharing, and API arrangements
  • AI governance and regulatory risk
  • Blockchain and privacy compliance
  • Platform regulation and liability
  • Media and communications law
  • Digital identity and biometrics

Intellectual Property

Recognised by Doyles Guide as a Leading Barrister in Intellectual Property (2018), Michael has appeared in reported IP cases and practised across the full range of intellectual property rights throughout his career at the Bar.

His practice in IP has run alongside his technology and privacy work for more than 25 years, reflecting the reality that in the digital age, intellectual property and technology law are increasingly inseparable.

Intellectual property is the legal architecture of creative and commercial value. Building it correctly, and defending it effectively, requires counsel who understands both the law and the environment in which that value is created.

Doyles Guide: Leading Barrister, Intellectual Property  ·  2018

Matters include

  • Copyright: infringement, ownership, licensing
  • Breach of confidence and trade secrets
  • Trade marks: registration, enforcement, disputes
  • IP in technology transactions
  • Passing off and unfair competition
  • Creative works: music, film, digital content, software
  • IP litigation: all Australian jurisdictions

Recognition

Doyles Guide: Leading Barrister, Intellectual Property (2018)
Doyles Guide: Leading Barrister, Technology, Media & Telecommunications (2019)

Commercial Law

Michael Rivette has a broad commercial law practice at the Victorian Bar, developed across more than 25 years at the Victorian Bar. He is briefed in complex commercial disputes, contract construction and enforcement, corporations law matters, and the commercial law dimensions of technology, media, and intellectual property transactions.

His commercial practice is closely integrated with his specialist work in privacy, technology, and intellectual property, reflecting the reality that many significant commercial disputes in the digital economy involve data, IP, and regulatory obligations as well as the underlying contractual and corporations law questions.

Michael also brings over 35 years of hands-on commercial experience as an owner, director, and board member across media, communications, and technology businesses. Actively involved in the media, tech, IT, and communications sectors, he offers solicitors and their clients practical, commercially focused advice grounded in real-world business insight.

Michael is known for his strategic thinking, collaborative style, and clear, solutions-oriented advocacy, qualities that continue to underpin long-term client relationships and trusted referrals.

Commercial disputes at the intersection of technology, IP, and data require counsel who is expert across all three. That integration, between the law and the business reality, has been a feature of my practice throughout my career at the Bar.

Matters include

  • Complex commercial disputes: contract construction and enforcement
  • Corporations law: directors' duties, shareholder disputes, oppression
  • Technology and IP transactions: commercial disputes
  • Misleading and deceptive conduct: Trade Practices and Australian Consumer Law
  • Contractual interpretation: complex commercial agreements
  • Commercial litigation: Federal Court and Supreme Courts
  • Equity: breach of fiduciary duty, constructive trusts
  • Injunctions and urgent interlocutory relief

Michael Rivette's commercial law practice is conducted at the Victorian Bar. He is available to be briefed by instructing solicitors for advisory and litigation matters.

Advocacy

Michael Rivette appears in courts and tribunals across all Australian jurisdictions. He has appeared as lead counsel in many of Australia's most significant privacy matters and continues to be briefed for complex litigation, hard cases, and matters requiring senior advocacy experience.

Some matters are genuinely hard. They involve novel questions, high stakes, experienced opponents, and outcomes that will matter beyond the individual case. Michael Rivette has spent his career preparing for exactly these matters.

Appearing in

  • Privacy class actions: Federal Court and Supreme Courts
  • OAIC and regulatory proceedings
  • Technology and IP disputes
  • Breach of confidence matters
  • Media and communications law
  • Serious Invasion of Privacy proceedings
  • All Australian courts and tribunals

Individuals

Privacy is not only a commercial issue. It is a human one, and the law is finally beginning to reflect that. Australia's new Serious Invasion of Privacy tort creates a direct cause of action for individuals whose privacy has been seriously invaded.

Michael Rivette was present at the formation of this area of law, arguing the privacy and breach of confidence issues in Giller v Procopets (2008), and writing articles that anticipated the new tort. He is uniquely positioned to advise individuals on privacy matters and the new cause of action, and to appear in proceedings under it.

Individuals may be able to engage Michael directly in appropriate matters. Contact Michael to discuss.

Contact →

Matters include

  • Serious Invasion of Privacy: new statutory tort
  • Breach of confidence: privacy context
  • Unauthorised disclosure of personal information
  • Non-consensual intimate imagery
  • Media privacy intrusions
  • OAIC complaints: representation
  • Data breach: personal impact
Publications

Writing at the forefront
of Australian privacy law.

Michael Rivette has authored and co-authored significant texts and articles in Australian and international privacy law, writing not as a commentator, but as the practitioner who has appeared in the cases the texts describe.

Seminal article · Australian Law Journal · 2020

Privacy Class Actions

Michael Rivette · (2020) 94 ALJ 791 · Australian Law Journal

The definitive text on privacy class actions in Australia. Maps the causes of action, the class action framework, and the significance of Evans v Health Administration Corp as the template for mass privacy breach litigation. Written by the barrister who led the first successful privacy class action in Australia.

Books

Oxford University Press · Tugendhat and Christie

The Law of Privacy and the Media

Australian co-author. The leading international text on privacy and media law.

Hart Publishing · Varuhas and Moreham (eds)

Remedies for Breach of Privacy

Co-author, Chapter 7: "Invasion of Privacy and Recovery for Distress" (with Richardson and Neave).

Journal articles and essays

Australian Law Journal · 2020

Privacy Class Actions

(2020) 94 ALJ 791

2020
Privacy Law Bulletin · 2019

Blockchain and the Australian Privacy Principles: Never the Twain Shall Meet

(2019) Privacy Law Bulletin 165 · with Adam Lodders

2019
Privacy Law Bulletin · 2017

Privacy as a Human Right

(2017) 14(2) Privacy Law Bulletin 22

2017
Privacy Law Bulletin · 2015

The Ultimate Balancing Test: Privacy v Freedom of Expression

(2015) Privacy Law Bulletin 170

2015
Media and Arts Law Review · 2010

Litigating Privacy Cases in the Wake of Giller v Procopets

(2010) 15 Media and Arts Law Review 283

2010
For Law Firms

Michael Rivette is available to be briefed in privacy, technology, intellectual property, and commercial law.

Briefing Michael Rivette gives your firm access to a barrister with deep specialist expertise across privacy law, technology, intellectual property, and commercial matters. He works directly with your instructing solicitors, bringing the depth of counsel who has appeared in Australia's most significant privacy cases and authored the leading texts in the field.

Specialist expertise on brief

Michael is available to be briefed in privacy and data protection, technology law, intellectual property, commercial law, and advocacy. His expertise is available to your firm and your clients on the matters that require it.

Depth of experience

Brief a barrister who has appeared in Australia's most significant privacy actions and other litigation, authored the seminal texts, and brings over 35 years of commercial and technology sector experience to every matter.

Specialist opinions

Written advice on complex privacy, technology, intellectual property, and commercial law questions — from the author of Privacy Class Actions (2020) 94 ALJ 791 and co-author of two leading international texts.

CLE and training

Presentations to your firm's solicitors on developments in privacy, technology, and IP law, delivered by the barrister who has appeared in the cases under discussion.

Brief Michael, and he will bring specialist depth to your matter. Whether your client needs a written opinion, advice on strategy, or experienced advocacy at the bar table, he is available to be instructed across privacy, technology, intellectual property, and commercial law.

Contact →
Capability

Specialist capability.
Available on brief.

When a matter involves serious privacy or data issues, the legal response requires barrister-level expertise across the immediate obligations, the regulatory landscape, and the litigation risk that may follow. Michael Rivette is available to be briefed by instructing solicitors across all aspects of data breach response, regulatory proceedings, and privacy litigation.

Data Breach Response: Legal Direction

Michael is available to be briefed to provide the legal direction needed to manage a data breach response correctly from the first hour. This includes establishing privilege over the investigation, advising instructing solicitors on notification obligations, assessing litigation risk, and ensuring that every step taken in the critical early period is defensible if the matter proceeds to court or regulatory investigation.

Cybersecurity & Incident Response

Working with instructing solicitors, Michael can assist in coordinating specialist cybersecurity and data incident response teams, ensuring the technical investigation is conducted under legal direction from the outset. Privilege is preserved, and forensic findings are framed for regulatory and litigation purposes from the first moment.

Regulatory Proceedings & OAIC Strategy

Michael has developed deep knowledge of how privacy regulators investigate and determine matters across 25 years of privacy law practice and authorship of the seminal texts in the field. He is available to be briefed to provide strategic advice and advocacy in OAIC investigations and regulatory proceedings.

Class Action Exposure Assessment

Following a data breach, class action risk must be assessed early. Michael is available to be briefed to provide early-stage class action risk assessment, drawing on his experience as counsel in Australia's first successful privacy class action and in McClure v Medibank Limited.

A data breach managed correctly in the first 72 hours is a recoverable event. Managed incorrectly, it becomes a class action, a regulatory determination, and a reputational crisis. The difference is having the right barrister briefed at the first moment.

Contact →
Insights

Commentary from inside
the law's development.

Michael Rivette writes on the privacy and technology law developments that matter, with the perspective of a practitioner who has been present at the law's formation, and continues to appear in its most significant cases.

Privacy Act Reform · 2025

The Privacy Act reforms: what changes, and what it means for organisations

Australia's most significant privacy law reform in decades. What has changed, what the OAIC is prioritising, and what organisations need to do before the obligations bite.

→

Class Actions · Privacy Litigation

The Medibank aftermath: the class action landscape for data breach litigation

An analysis of where the law stands and where it is going, from the barrister who has appeared in Australia's most significant privacy class actions.

→

Individuals · Privacy Rights

The Serious Invasion of Privacy tort: a new era for individual rights

Australia's new tort creates a direct cause of action for individuals whose privacy has been seriously invaded. What it means, how it works, and how to use it.

→

AI · Emerging Technology

AI and personal information: the emerging legal risk Australian organisations are underestimating

The OAIC has flagged AI as a priority enforcement area. Most Australian organisations have not yet identified their exposure.

→
Contact

Contact.
Chambers & clerk details.

Michael Rivette is available to be briefed by instructing solicitors for advisory, regulatory, and advocacy matters across all areas of practice.

In certain matters, Michael is also available to be engaged directly by clients under the Direct Access provisions of the Legal Profession Uniform Conduct (Barristers) Rules 2015. Please describe your matter and he will advise on the appropriate engagement model.

Location

Chancery Chambers, Melbourne

Phone

+61 3 8600 1717

Mobile

0418 375 566

Fax

+61 3 8600 1725

Chambers email

rivette@chancery.com.au

Direct email

michael@rivettelegal.com.au

Jurisdictions

All Australian courts and tribunals

Response

All enquiries responded to within one business day. Urgent matters as priority.

Clerk, Young's List

Michael Rivette is a member of Young's List. Solicitors wishing to brief Michael may contact his clerk directly. The clerks will consult on the brief, confirm availability, and discuss fee information and billing arrangements.

Clerk

Tammy Young, Young's List

Location

Suite 8B, Level 2, 221 Queen Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000

Postal address

GPO Box 4770, Melbourne Victoria 3001

Telephone

+61 3 9225 6777

After hours

Tammy Young  +61 414 523 515
Tara O'Connor  +61 466 638 081
Oscar Morrison  +61 403 603 463

Clerk email

clerks@youngslist.com.au

Michael Rivette is a barrister practising at the Victorian Bar. In accordance with the Legal Profession Uniform Conduct (Barristers) Rules 2015, he does not act as a solicitor. Most litigation and court appearances require an instructing solicitor. He will advise on the appropriate engagement model for your matter.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation.