“When you can combine an understanding of the commercial drivers and the technology being used, with experience and expertise in the relevant areas of the law, it enables you to provide high-quality advice that goes beyond simply trotting out what the law is,” Mr Stewart said.

“Over time, assisting clients on a repeat basis [in] those issues really does allow the advice to support the business and occasionally, in those bright moments, help clients formulate their future approaches to critical issues in a way that transcends simply being a service provider.

“The work that I am doing today has been built on some fortunate timing, some good relationships and hard work that lead to the opportunity to work on some truly leading cases when I returned to private practice after working in-house for some time.”

Mr Stewart spent six years as senior corporate counsel at free-to-air broadcaster Nine Network and joined Baker McKenzie as partner in 2007. He now heads up the practice.

As a practice leader, Mr Stewart has been involved in a suite of high-profile work, including work for Hollywood Studios Warner Bros, Paramount, Universal, Sony, Disney, 21st Century Fox and Australia’s Village Roadshow in the first test of Australia’s anti-piracy legislation passed by the government in 2015.

Mr Stewart had actually got started in construction but he said it pretty quickly became apparent that “it didn’t suit me and I didn’t suit it!”

“The staff partner at the firm I was working at offered me a rotation in media. While I enjoyed it, it took a while to take hold,” Mr Stewart said.

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“I really started to enjoy and then love media law when I worked in-house at Nine Network. Working closely with journalists, helping get news stories to air, being involved in significant sporting deals plus leading industry innovations and working closely with immensely talented people [were] addictive.

“As technology and media continue to intertwine, it is really gratifying to apply the law that I was involved in making to new situations for new clients.” 

Mr Stewart said that while climate change law seems to be the “perennially sexy area” for new grads, media and technology still holds its own so it is great to work with talented people in the industry and to watch them develop and grow. 

“Sometimes that growth means that they stay in your team and other times it means that they seek new challenges often in adjacent areas within the firm but sometimes outside it,” he said.

“I think that you never go wrong in supporting someone to do the best for themselves. No matter the outcome I find working with clever, motivated, aspiring people extremely rewarding.”

Looking ahead for the practice area

According to Mr Stewart, one of the biggest trends is the blurring of the lines between the traditional dichotomy of copyright owners and copyright users. 

As a result, many, if not most, do both so their approaches to an issue in one situation need to take account of what they are doing in other situations. 

Another trend is the pervasiveness of technology. 

“It sounds trite to say it and most likely is, but as technology lawyers we get to see the new exciting stuff, often ahead of its introduction to the general public. You can’t help but be amazed at the ideas that generate huge businesses that permeate all of society,” Mr Stewart said.

Currently, the media technology space “is really throwing up some very interesting regulatory issues.

“The problem is that many areas (such as broadcasting law) are so far behind reality that they are largely no longer fit for purpose and require wholesale replacement.

“We then see governments understandably react to difficult and sometimes horrendous events like the Christchurch massacre which lead to quickly developed legislation. Yet industry participants need certainty and the issues aren’t simple. 

“The next few years will be exciting and challenging for industry players and advisers alike.”

With COVID-19 pandemic having major impacts across the legal industry, Mr Stewart said the entire practice area has no doubt been affected.

As the leader of the media, IP and tech practice group at Baker McKenzie Australia, Mr Stewart has watched some parts of the practice continue to thrive, while other parts of the practice pivot as the clients grapple with what it means for them and their businesses. 

“For some clients, it’s not quite business as usual but protecting their IP is just as (and possibly more) critical than as at other times,” he said.

“Given that we’re still in the middle of it, it’s difficult to see what the longer-term effects might be.

“While as lawyers we talk to clients about risk levels and try to create certainty where we can, as businesses we are grappling with the economic uncertainties as best we can like everyone else.”

Mr Stewart said that universally clients are focussed on value during this pandemic.

“With uncertainty comes the need to make careful investment decisions and all legal cost at the end of the day is an investment decision,” he said.

“Those of us who can assist clients find value in our advice and the outcomes that can be achieved will do best.”

For the future of the media, technology and IP practice area, Mr Stewart says that he doesn’t see this area going away.

“In fact as an area of law it will, if anything, become even more important,” he said.

“It is already critical that those practising in the area have an understanding of technology and an inquiring mind.

“Also, once success in the area meant specialisation.

“I think now, successful lawyers in this area will have to have deep skills in quite a few areas as new technologies don’t respect neat legal boundaries!”

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