Dr Thomas Bennett
About
Overview
Tom is an expert in Media Law, focusing particularly on the law relating to personal privacy and the law of defamation. He has written extensively on both privacy and defamation in leading national and international journals. Tom also has research interests in the operation of the common law more generally, encompassing judicial decision-making and the manner in which judges develop new common law rules. He has a broad interest in legal philosophy, and particularly in the interrelationships between law, language and the imagination.
Tom holds degrees from Newcastle University (LL.B (Hons)) and City University (LL.M (Distinction)). He was called to the Bar in 2009 (Inner Temple), following which he elected to pursue an academic career. He was awarded a Ph.D by Durham University in March 2018 for his thesis: "Imagining Privacy in the Common Law".
At City Law School, Tom teaches primarily in Tort Law and Media Law - subjects he has taught for over a decade. He has previously taught courses on Legal Institutions and Method, Legal Reasoning, Constitutional and Administrative Law, and Business Law. Tom is happy to supervise undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations on areas within his competence, and welcomes approaches from prospective Ph.D candidates interested in pursuing doctoral study within his field of expertise.
Tom is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
In October 2018, Tom founded the Media Law Podcast along with co-host Paul Wragg.
Memberships of professional organisations
- Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy, 2018 - present
Teaching
Teaching
Tort Law
Media Law
Research students
2ndsupervisor
- Talha Boyraz, Research Student
Publications
Publications by category
Books (2)
- Mullender, R., Nicolini, M., Bennett, T.D.C. and Mickiewicz, E. (Eds.), (2020). Law and Imagination in Troubled Times: A Legal and Literary Discourse. Routledge. ISBN 9780367344115.
- Bennett, T.D.C. and Síthigh, D.M. (2017). The Campbell Legacy: Reflections on the Tort of Misuse of Private Information. ISBN 9781138057968.
Chapters (6)
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2023). PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd (2016). Landmark Cases in Privacy Law Hart Publishing. ISBN 9781509940769.
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2020). Privacy and incrementalism. In Koltay, A. and Wragg, P. (Eds.), Comparative Privacy and Defamation (pp. 24-47). Edward Elgar. ISBN 9781788970587.
- Bennett, T.D.C. and Reilly, O. (2020). A Coleridgean Dystopia: Formalism and the Optics of Judgment. Law and Imagination in Troubled Times: A Legal and Literary Discourse (pp. 206-238). Routledge. ISBN 9780367344115.
- Bennett, T.D.C., Mickiewicz, E., Nicolini, M. and Mullender, R. (2020). Legal imagination in troubled times: An introduction. Law and Imagination in Troubled Times A Legal and Literary Discourse (pp. 1-13).
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2017). Commentary on AAA v Associated Newspapers Ltd. Rewriting Childrens Rights Judgments from Academic Vision to New Practice (pp. 193-199).
- Bennett, T. Triangulating Deepfakes as a Privacy Problem. Deepfakes and the Law: Challenges, Responses, and Critique Routledge.
Journal articles (17)
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2023). Interpretation is opinion: realigning the fact/opinion distinction in English defamation law. Journal of Media Law, 15(1), pp. 62-89. doi:10.1080/17577632.2023.2216523
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2022). Confidence, privacy, and incoherence. Journal of Media Law, 14(2), pp. 245-256. doi:10.1080/17577632.2022.2139571
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2019). Triangulating Intrusion in Privacy Law. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 39(4), pp. 751-778. doi:10.1093/ojls/gqz024
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2018). Why so serious? Lachaux and the threshold of ‘serious harm’ in section 1 Defamation Act 2013. Journal of Media Law, 10(1), pp. 1-16. doi:10.1080/17577632.2018.1446403
- Bennett, T. and Wragg, P. (2018). Was Richard v BBC correctly decided? Communications Law, 23(3), pp. 151-165
- Bennett, T. (2018). Judicial Activism and the Nature of "Misuse of Private Information". Communications Law, 23(2), pp. 74-88
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2015). Privacy, third parties and judicial method: Wainwright 's legacy of uncertainty. Journal of Media Law, 7(2), pp. 251-277. doi:10.1080/17577632.2015.1108586
- Bennett, T.D.C. and Síthigh, D.M. (2015). Introduction: The Campbell Legacy. Journal of Media Law, 7(2), pp. 152-154. doi:10.1080/17577632.2015.1126985
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2014). Privacy, Free Speech and Ruthlessness: The Australian Law Reform Commission's Report, Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era. Journal of Media Law, 6(2), pp. 193-205. doi:10.5235/17577632.6.2.193
- Bennett, T. (2014). Emerging privacy torts in Canada and New Zealand: an English perspective. European Intellectual Property Review, 36(5), pp. 298-305
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2013). Privacy, Corrective Justice, and Incrementalism: Legal Imagination and the Recognition of a Privacy Tort in Ontario. McGill Law Journal, 59(1), pp. 49-49. doi:10.7202/1018985ar
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2012). Flood v Times Newspapers Ltd: Reynolds privilege returns to the UK’s highest court’. Entertainment Law Review, 23(5), pp. 134-134
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2011). The Relevance and Importance of Third Party Interests in Privacy Cases. Law Quarterly Review, 127, pp. 531-531
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2010). Corrective Justice and Horizontal Privacy: A Leaf Out of Wright J’s Book. The Journal Jurisprudence, 7, pp. 545-545
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2010). Horizontality’s New Horizons – Re-examining Horizontal Effect: Privacy, Defamation and the Human Rights Act – Part II. Entertainment Law Review, 21(4), pp. 145-145
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2010). Horizontality’s New Horizons – Re-examining Horizontal Effect: Privacy, Defamation and the Human Rights Act – Part I. Entertainment Law Review, 21(3), pp. 96-96
- Bennett, T.D.C. (2009). Material increase in risk of mesothelioma under section 3 of the Compensation Act 2006. Journal of Professional Negligence, 25(4), pp. 210-210