Hugh Tomlinson

Hugh Tomlinson QC, born in 1954, is an English barrister and a founding member of Matrix Chambers. He is a noted specialist in media and information law including defamation, confidence, privacy and data protection. He played a central role in the campaign for the full disclosure of UK MP's parliamentary expenses and in the News of the World phone-hacking revelations. He is known for his privacy work for celebrities who include Lily Allen, David and Victoria Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Ryan Giggs, as well as others such as retired banker (and ex-knight) Fred Goodwin and Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales.

Early life

Tomlinson was born and grew up in a working-class area of Woodhouse in Leeds, West Yorkshire. After winning a place at Leeds Grammar School he went on to Balliol College, Oxford where he earned the top first in the University in PPE. After Oxford he continued his philosophical studies at the University of Sussex and in 1977 went to the University of Paris VIII, at the time notorious for its radical philosophy department. Tomlinson met the philosopher Gilles Deleuze there and went on to translate eight of his books.