Matthew Nicholls – Principal Lawyer

Matthew Nicholls LLB(Melb)(Hons) BCom(Melb) is the principal of Nicholls Legal.  Matthew has extensive expertise and over 20 years’ experience in Technology & Communications law.  His background includes practising in the technology and intellectual property departments in major national law firms Clayton Utz and Corrs Chambers Westgarth.  In 1998, Matthew established the position of Regulatory & General Counsel at Primus Telecom, one of Australia’s largest telecommunications carriers, entailing responsibility for all regulatory and legal matters concerning the Primus Group within Australia.

Matthew has earned a reputation as a lateral thinker, as a commercial lawyer and has produced a number of industry firsts in the areas of e-commerce transactions and telecommunications regulation.

Matthew’s particular expertise in the field of communications includes negotiating and drafting agreements, litigation and providing specialist regulatory and trade practices advice.  This has included advising the Department of Communications Information Technology and the Arts, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and serving as a director on the board of the Australian Communications Information Forum, ACIF (now Communications Alliance).

Matthew has acted for many of the major telecommunications players in Australia.  These include AAPT/PowerTel, Soul/TPG, NEC, Primus Telecom, Hutchison 3G Australia, Macquarie Telecom, TransACT, Uecomm, Virtual Communities, WestNet, WorldxChange and the Competitive Carriers’ Coalition.

Below is a sample of representative matters on which Matthew has acted.

  • He has been appointed as a legal consultant to Adam Smith International (UK) to assist with its four year Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility project.
  • He successfully represented a number of telcos in the High Court when Telstra challenged the validity of the Trade Practices Act.
  • He provided the lead legal and regulatory advice to TransACT Communications in its bid for the $4.7B NBN.
  • He acted for the Victorian State Emergency Service in relation to the Black Saturday Bushfires Royal Commission.
  • He was retained by Access Economics to advise the Federal Government in its review of next generation network regulations.
  • He was retained by the ACCC to draft the model terms and conditions for the Australian telecommunications industry.

Matthew is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Victoria, the Federal Court and the High Court of Australia.  Matthew is a member of the Law Institute of Victoria, Communications Alliance, the Australian Computer Society and serves on the Victorian Committee of the Telecommunications Society of Australia.

Matthew may be contacted direct on:

View Matthew Nicholls's profile on LinkedIn