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Mr Brendan Clift

Mr Brendan Clift

Lecturer
  • PhD (University of Melbourne)
  • LLM (University of Hong Kong)
  • MJ (University of Hong Kong)
  • BA LLB (Macquarie University)
  • GDLP (College of Law)
  • Admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of NSW
Law & Justice
School of Private & Commercial Law

I am a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law & Justice at UNSW Sydney. I previously taught in law schools at the University of Melbourne, the University of Hong Kong, and City University of Hong Kong.

Before joining academia I worked for over a decade in legal publishing, inter alia as Managing Editor at LexisNexis Australia, Publishing Director at LexisNexis Asia, and Editor of Hong Kong Lawyer. I have also worked in the media, including at Radio Television Hong Kong and the South China Morning Post, and in legal practice, specialising in intellectual property.
E-mail
b.clift@unsw.edu.au
  • Books | 2021
    Rodrick S; Clift B; Ireland J; Power L, 2021, Australian Media Law, Thomson Reuters Legal, Sydney
    Books | 2018
    Clift B, 2018, Anti-discrimination Ordinances Commentary and Annotations
  • Book Chapters | 2024
    Clift B, 2024, 'Foreign Relations', in Bokhary K (ed.), Halsbury's Laws of Hong Kong, LexisNexis, pp. 89 - 394
    Book Chapters | 2024
    Clift B, 2024, 'Tort', in Bokhary K (ed.), Halsbury's Laws of Hong Kong, LexisNexis, pp. 157 - 885
    Book Chapters | 2023
    Clift B, 2023, 'Religion', in Bokhary K (ed.), Halsbury's Laws of Hong Kong, LexisNexis, pp. 341 - 653
    Book Chapters | 2022
    Clift B; Ng L, 2022, 'Defamation', in Bokhary K (ed.), Halsbury's Laws of Hong Kong, LexisNexis, pp. 45 - 268
    Book Chapters | 2022
    Clift B, 2022, 'Weights and Measures', in Bokhary K (ed.), Halsbury's Laws of Hong Kong, LexisNexis, pp. 187 - 227
    Book Chapters | 2021
    Clift B; Rodrick S, 2021, 'Confidentiality and Sources of Information', in Australian Media Law, Thomson Reuters Legal, pp. 533 - 602
    Book Chapters | 2021
    Clift B, 2021, 'Commercial Contracts: Boilerplate Clauses', in Lord Millett (ed.), The Hong Kong Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents, LexisNexis, pp. 1 - 636
    Book Chapters | 2021
    Clift B, 2021, 'Defamation', in Australian Media Law, Thomson Reuters Legal, pp. 43 - 182
    Book Chapters | 2021
    Clift B, 2021, 'Free Speech', in Australian Media Law, Thomson Reuters Legal, pp. 13 - 42
    Book Chapters | 2021
    Clift B, 2021, 'Negligence', in Australian Media Law, Thomson Reuters Legal, pp. 837 - 862
    Book Chapters | 2021
    Clift B, 2021, 'Privacy', in Australian Media Law, Thomson Reuters Legal, pp. 603 - 700
    Book Chapters | 2021
    Lee A; Clift B, 2021, 'From Fair Dealing to User-Generated Content: Legal La La Land in Hong Kong', in Balganesh S; Ng-Loy WL; Sun H (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Copyright Limitations and Exceptions, Cambridge University Press, pp. 364 - 376
    Book Chapters | 2020
    Christie A; Clift B, 2020, 'Circuit Layouts', in Kirby M (ed.), The Laws of Australia, Thomson Reuters Legal, pp. 1 - 54
    Book Chapters | 2020
    Clift B, 2020, 'Entertainment, Hotels, Sport and Tourism', in Bokhary K (ed.), Halsbury's Laws of Hong Kong, LexisNexis
    Book Chapters | 2020
    Clift B, 2020, 'Intellectual Property: Passing Off, Registered Designs and Patents', in Bokhary K (ed.), Halsbury's Laws of Hong Kong, LexisNexis, pp. 97 - 634
    Book Chapters | 2020
    Clift B, 2020, 'Intellectual Property: Trade Marks, Copyright and Plant Varieties Rights', in Bokhary K (ed.), Halsbury's Laws of Hong Kong, LexisNexis, pp. 88 - 655
    Book Chapters | 2020
    Clift B, 2020, 'Logistics: Carriers', in Lord Millett (ed.), The Hong Kong Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents, LexisNexis, pp. 1 - 859
    Book Chapters | 2019
    Clift B, 2019, 'Statutes', in Bokhary K (ed.), Halsbury's Laws of Hong Kong, LexisNexis, pp. 923 - 1079
    Book Chapters | 2017
    Clift B, 2017, 'Intellectual Property: Copyright', in Lord Millett (ed.), The Hong Kong Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents, LexisNexis, pp. 1 - 613
    Book Chapters | 2017
    Clift B, 2017, 'Media and Communications', in Bokhary K (ed.), Halsbury's Laws of Hong Kong, LexisNexis, pp. 65 - 968
    Book Chapters | 2011
    Clift B, 2011, 'Preface', in Bokhary K (ed.), Halsbury's Laws of Hong Kong, LexisNexis, pp. xi - xiv
    Book Chapters | 2008
    Clift B, 2008, 'Weights and Measures', in Litton H (ed.), Halsbury's Laws of Hong Kong, LexisNexis, pp. 1 - 35
  • Journal articles | 2022
    Clift B, 2022, 'China's National Security: Endangering Hong Kong's Rule of Law? Edited by Cora Chan and Fiona de Londras Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2020 368 pp. £42.99 ISBN 978-1-50995-589-3', The China Quarterly, 251, pp. 945 - 947,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Clift B, 2022, 'Mandating Symbolic Patriotism: China’s Flag and Anthem in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region', Asian Journal of Law and Society, 9, pp. 500 - 518,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Whitsed W; Bosland J; Clift B, 2022, 'Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill 2022', Australian Law Journal, 96, pp. 227 - 230
    Journal articles | 2021
    Clift B, 2021, 'The AG’s Gambit: National Defamation Reform Enters its Middlegame', Australian Law Journal, 95, pp. 88 - 93
    Journal articles | 2020
    Clift B, 2020, 'Hong Kong’s Made-in-China National Security Law: Upending the Legal Order for the Sake of Law and Order', Australian Journal of Asian Law, 48, pp. 1 - 23,
    Journal articles | 2018
    Clift B, 2018, 'Malice through the Looking Glass', Hong Kong Law Journal, 48, pp. 11 - 22
    Journal articles | 2010
    Clift B, 2010, 'Rights in Primary Legal Materials in Hong Kong: Proprietary or Prerogative, Private or Public?', Hong Kong Law Journal, 40, pp. 659 - 686
  • Other | 2025
    Clift B, 2025, Sentencing of Hong Kong democrats just the latest legal blow,
    Other | 2024
    Clift B, 2024, Hong Kong carving its own path of repression,
    Theses / Dissertations | 2024
    Clift B, 2024, Political Dissent, Law and Legitimacy in China's Hong Kong
    Other | 2023
    Clift B, 2023, Another blow to Hong Kong’s fading rule of law,
    Reports | 2023
    Witzleb N; Ng Y-F; Pittard M; Paterson M; Clift B; Richardson M, 2023, Submission in response to the Attorney-General’s Department’s Privacy Act Review Report 2022
    Reports | 2022
    Bosland J; Clift B; Witsed W, 2022, Submission to the Commonwealth Attorney General’s Department in response to the Exposure Draft of the Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill 2021
    Other | 2021
    Clift B, 2021, Political repression and authoritarian legalism in Hong Kong,
    Other | 2019
    Clift B, 2019, Hong Kong’s use of emergency powers: legality, legitimacy and limits,
    Theses / Dissertations | 2010
    Clift B, 2010, Rights in Primary Legal Materials: Proprietary or Prerogative, Private or Public?
  • Media | 2024
    Clift B, 2024, Judge finds Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins and dismisses Network 10 defamation case. How did it play out?,
    Media | 2024
    Clift B, 2024, Robert Irwin wanted to sue One Nation for using his likeness. We don’t really have laws for that,
    Media | 2024
    Clift B, 2024, With all these defamation lawsuits, what ever happened to free speech?,
    Media | 2024
    Clift B, 2024, With more lawsuits looming, should politicians be able to sue for defamation?,
    Media | 2023
    Clift B, 2023, Bounties on exiled Hong Kong activists show the ambitious reach of China’s political repression,
    Media | 2021
    Clift B, 2021, Why defamation suits in Australia are so ubiquitous—and difficult to defend for media organisations,
    Media | 2021
    Clift B, 2021, With mass arrests, running for office in Hong Kong is now not only futile, it can be criminal,
    Media | 2020
    Clift B, 2020, Hong Kong activists now face a choice: stay silent, or flee the city. The world must give them a path to safety,
    Media | 2020
    Clift B, 2020, ‘Killing the chicken to scare the monkey’: what Jimmy Lai’s arrest means for Hong Kong’s independent media,

My research includes media law, especially defamation and free speech, and Asian law, focusing on Hong Kong and rights/constitutionalism in the region. It has also touched on other areas including torts, intellectual property, and criminal law. My PhD thesis was titled Political Dissent, Law and Legitimacy in China's Hong Kong, and I am currently working on a related monograph to be published by Routledge.

I am General Editor of the peer-reviewed , a recent co-author of (6th edition), and a frequent contributor to legal reference works including (authoring titles including Tort, Defamation, Intellectual Property, Media and Communications, and Statutes).

My Research Supervision

  • Abdul Halim,ÌýThe Administration of Judges in Indonesia: Ensuring the Individual Independence of Judges within the One-Roof System (PhD; with Professor Melissa Crouch).

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My Teaching

My teaching primarily covers torts and media law. I have also taught on free speech, privacy, defamation, intellectual property, digital platform regulation, criminal law, legal method, and law in Asia.