Patrick Fair is an Australian lawyer based in Sydney, known for his work in telecommunications, technology, privacy, and intellectual property law. He practised as a partner at Phillips Fox and Baker McKenzie before founding Patrick Fair Associates, and he chairs the Communications Security Reference Panel of the Communications Alliance.
Background
Fair's documented career is centred on Sydney, New South Wales, where he studied, was admitted to the legal profession, and built his practice. He was admitted to the bar in Australia in 1984.
Sydney is the capital of New South Wales and the home of the University of Sydney, which was founded in 1850 as the first university established in Australia. The city's legal and commercial sector provided the setting for the partnerships and practices in which Fair worked over the following decades.
Education
Fair studied at the University of Sydney, where he completed a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws. Founded in 1850, the university was the first established in Australia and remains a leading public research university.
He was admitted to the bar in Australia in 1984. In 1993 he served as president of the University of Sydney Union, the student organisation that represents students and provides services on the university's campuses.
Later professional training included completing a course with the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a national body that promotes governance standards for company directors. In 2014 he also earned the Certified Information Privacy Manager credential from the International Association of Privacy Professionals, a global body for privacy professionals.
Career
Fair became a partner of Phillips Fox in 1989 and remained with the firm until 1999. Phillips Fox was a large Australian law firm; after the period of Fair's partnership it came to operate as DLA Phillips Fox, and the global firm DLA Piper later absorbed the Australian practice and closed the DLA Phillips Fox name.
From 2000 to 2019 he was an international partner at Baker McKenzie, working from the firm's Sydney office. Baker McKenzie is a global law firm founded in Chicago in 1949, and its Sydney office was part of a network serving clients across the Asia-Pacific region and other markets. In November 2019 he left the firm to establish his own practice in Sydney.
Patrick Fair Associates is a business name of Technology Law Pty Limited, an incorporated legal practice conducted under Fair's supervision as principal. The practice advises on technology law, privacy law, telecommunications regulation, data governance, intellectual property, IT contracting and general commercial matters. Chambers Asia & Pacific describes Fair as a Sydney-based sole practitioner whose work is concentrated in telecommunications mandates.
Fair's telecommunications work has included advice to mobile operators, digital service providers and satellite service providers. He chairs the Communications Security Reference Panel of the Communications Alliance, an industry body for the Australian telecommunications sector. In that role he has taken part in industry consideration of mandatory data retention rules, the telecommunications security sector reforms, and public debate over the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Act 2018.
From 2020 he has been an adjunct professor in the School of Information Technology at Deakin University, a public university in Victoria established in 1974.
Achievements
As chair of the Communications Security Reference Panel of the Communications Alliance, he contributed to industry consideration and response to major telecommunications regulatory reforms, including mandatory data retention rules and the telecommunications security sector reforms.
Works
article
Should we use mobile metadata for contract tracing?
(A short commentary published in The Conversation on 27 Ma...)
2020
Australia: Consultation opens on Serious Data Breach Notification Bill
(Co-authored with Anne-Marie Allgrove and Adrian Lawrence....)
2015
Australia – New Mandatory Data Breach Notification Bill
(Co-authored with other Baker McKenzie lawyers. It discuss...)
2016
Australia's mandatory data breach notification is coming!
(Written by Fair for Baker McKenzie. It explains how the m...)
2017
briefing
Summary of proposed Telecommunications Sector Security Reforms
(Published by Baker & McKenzie. It describes the proposed ...)
2015
conference paper
The internet and sovereignty: what are the limits of government control?
(Co-authored with Anne Petterd and presented at the Commun...)
2011
guide
Quick Start: Australian Cyber Security Policy Guide
(A freely downloadable guide to Australian cyber security ...)
2021
Membership
Fair's professional association work began with the Law Society of New South Wales, the professional body for solicitors in the state. He served as a councillor from 1991 to 1998 and was president in 1997, later becoming a life member.
He was also associated with the Internet Industry Association, an Australian industry body for online and internet businesses that takes part in public policy debate on regulation of the sector. He served as a director in the late 1990s and again in 2011, and as chairman in 1999 to 2002 and 2012 to 2014.
His other memberships reflect a combination of community, governance and technology roles. He was a director of the Kindergarten Union of NSW, an organisation that supports early childhood education, from 1984 to 1987. He was a member of the advisory panel to the Australian Law Reform Commission on copyright and the digital economy in 2013 and 2014.
More recently he has held roles in the cyber security and telecommunications field. He chairs the Communications Security Reference Panel of the Communications Alliance and is a member of the security workstream of the IoT Alliance of Australia, a collaborative body addressing the security of connected devices. He is a Fellow of the Australian Information Security Association, a professional body for information security practitioners. He is also a director of NSW Crime Stoppers, a community crime reporting program, and a member of its cybersecurity committee. He is a member of the Technical Advisory Standing Committee of auDA, the administrator of the .au domain space. He has chaired the Film and Television Advisory Committee of Create NSW, the New South Wales government agency for arts and screen industries, from 2022 to 2025. He has been a member of the board member selection committee of the College of Law, a provider of legal practice training in Australia, since 2016.
Councillor and, in 1997, president
Law Society of New South Wales
,
Australia
1991 - 1998
Director
Kindergarten Union of NSW
,
Australia
1984 - 1987
Director, later chairman
Internet Industry Association
,
Australia
1995 - 2014
Member of the advisory panel on copyright and the digital economy
Australian Law Reform Commission
,
Australia
2013 - 2014
Chairman of the Communications Security Reference Panel
Communications Alliance
,
Australia
2014 - present
Member of the Security Workstream
IoT Alliance of Australia
,
Australia
Fellow
Australian Information Security Association
,
Australia
Director; chair of the Technology Enabled Crime Committee; member of the Cybersecurity Committee
NSW Crime Stoppers
,
Australia
Member of the Technical Advisory Standing Committee
auDA
,
Australia
Chair of the Film and Television Advisory Committee
Create NSW
,
Australia
2022 - 2025
Member of the board member selection committee; foundation shareholder
College of Law
,
Australia
2016 - present
References
Chambers Asia & Pacific
Chambers Asia-Pacific 2026 profile describing Fair as a Sydney-based sole practitioner ranked in telecommunications (TMT) work in Australia, with some 30 years of legal experience.
2026
LexisNexis Practical Guidance author profile
Author profile describing Fair's principal role at Patrick Fair Associates, his academic qualifications, and his areas of expertise in cyber security, telecommunications, privacy and intellectual property.
The Conversation, Patrick Fair profile
Contributor profile presenting Fair as an adjunct professor at Deakin University and an experienced commercial lawyer in intellectual property, competition, telecommunications and privacy law.
Patrick Fair Associates, leadership page
The practice's leadership page listing Fair's education, professional roles, board and committee positions, and earlier partnerships at Phillips Fox and Baker McKenzie.
