Dan Pearce

Expertise

Dan is a General Counsel in the Corporate & Commercial section, having retired from the partnership after more than 20 years, many of them spent leading the firm's technology, media and intellectual property practice.

Dan has deep experience advising on all aspects of IT, IP, media and related corporate and regulatory issues, including competition and consumer law, privacy and data governance, broadcasting, defamation and other legislative compliance.

Dan assists clients in these industries with their transactions, contractual negotiations, operational matters and responds to regulator enquiries. This work includes:

• assisting technology suppliers and their customers with all of their contracting arrangements and regulatory matters (particularly privacy-related issues, including responding to data breaches)
• advising owners and users of intellectual property on its protection and exploitation from licensing and commercialisation agreements, to management and enforcement of trade mark portfolios
• acting for producers, financiers and distributors of film, television programs and other content, from the earliest development stage to spin-offs and remakes of global success stories
• assisting advertising agencies and corporates with the contracting for, and clearance of, advertising and communications campaigns.

Dan also acts for clients in other sectors which are undertaking procurements, branding exercises and other uses of intellectual property and information technology.

Dan is recognised by his peers and is listed in The Best Lawyers in Australia 2014 to 2024 edition as a leading practitioner for:

• Information Technology Law
• Entertainment Law
• Intellectual Property Law.

Dan is also recognised as a 5-Star Cyber Lawyer by Australasian Lawyers and was listed by Doyle's Guide in their 2021 guide as a recommended lawyer and in the 2023 guide as a leading lawyer in Technology, Media & Telecommunications Law for Victoria.

Experience

Dan has extensive experience in advising on a broad range of commercial, IT and IP issues, including on matters such as:

• the acquisition and disposal of companies and businesses, corporate structuring and joint ventures
• the structuring of start-ups, their funding rounds (from seed funding through to liquidity events), and intellectual property protection and development
• the development, financing, production and distribution of film and television projects, new media and online products, including working on projects such as Seachange, The Nightingale, Hotel Mumbai, Paramedics, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, The Living Room, Bondi Vet, Newton's Law, Jonah from Tonga, Ja'mie Private School Girl, Cloudstreet, Underbelly, Kath & Kim
• brand development and protection, including copyright, trade marks, domain names and consumer law issues
• the protection and exploitation of computer software and hardware and the provision of information technology services (including government contracts and outsourcing), and
• regulatory compliance, including corporations law, copyright, privacy and competition law.

Dan was a founding director of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, a councillor of Screen Producers Australia, and a director of the Melbourne International Film Festival. 

Dan is currently a director at the National Communications Museum and a Victorian Councillor for the AIIA.