Thomas Dillon

Date of call: 1983

Thomas Dillon returned to practice at the English Bar in 2010, having been Vice President and Deputy General Counsel EMEA in the Brussels office of the Motion Picture Association. He is an accredited mediator and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He accepts direct instructions from the public.

Thomas’s legal interests include media law, intellectual property, electronic commerce and alternative dispute resolution. He edits the web site www.graduatedresponse.org and the GRBlog, sources of fact and opinion on the protection of copyright works through technology.

Content Protection
As inhouse counsel Thomas managed cases on behalf of the major motion picture studios in several European jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland and has advised on non-contentious issues relating to intellectual property, data protection and online liability. He handled the film industry’s ground-breaking prosecution in Sweden of the operators of the notorious pirate website, the Piratebay, resulting in 2009 in their conviction and a substantial award of damages.

Policy Advocacy
Over the last decade in Brussels and London, Thomas has worked on many legislative issues, making the case for change to politicians and officials at all levels. He has assisted right holders in developing policy positions and submissions to government, deploying legal and economic analysis to inform and influence policy-making.

Alternative Dispute Resolution
Thomas is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He is a member of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center‘s List of Mediators and Arbitrators and the WIPO Film and Media Panel of Neutrals. He serves as an arbitrator for the CEDR Solve ABTA arbitration scheme. He is an ADR Group accredited Mediator. With long practice at the Bar and experience managing high-profile, cross-border cases, he can help parties short-circuit the stressful process of litigation. He practices in accordance with the European Code of Conduct for Mediators.

Biography
Thomas Dillon is a London-based Barrister, admitted in England & Wales and in California (currently non-practising in CA). After taking a degree in Classics at Queens’ College, Cambridge, he was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in 1983. He studied intellectual property and competition law at Queen Mary & Westfield College, London (Diploma, 1990). He became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in 1999. In 2009 he completed an MBA (Film Business) at Sir John Cass Business School, City of London.

Thomas practised as a Barrister in England and Wales from 1984 to 2000, qualifying on the way as a California attorney in 1998. In 2000 he undertook an internship at the Motion Picture Association (MPA) in Los Angeles, then took up an appointment as inhouse counsel at the MPA’s EMEA office in Brussels. In 2006 he was promoted to Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, EMEA. In 2010 he established his own practice at the Bar in London. He is chairman of Creative Advantage Fund, a venture capital fund for the creative industries.

Memberships
Beverly Hills Bar Association
British Academy of Film & Television Arts
Royal Television Society, London Centre (management committee)
Film Agency for Wales (director).

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