Early Career & Education
Current Practice Area
Professional Approach & Interest Areas
Early Career & Education
Dermott graduated from the University of the Sunshine Coast with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Journalism.
Prior to working for O’Brien’s, Dermott worked as a graduate at a Sydney-based law firm across several practice areas including civil litigation, intellectual property, media, corporate, commercial, and employment. Furthermore, Dermott previously worked as a paralegal in the disputes and litigation team at the ABC.
During his time in the legal industry, Dermott has worked on a variety of complex and interesting legal matters including an action seeking an order for preliminary discovery, a licence scheme reference to the Copyright Tribunal, a pro-bono matter assisting a woman facing a series of strategic lawsuits as a form of domestic abuse and coercive control, and the high-profile Heston Russell and Bruce Lehrmann defamation claims against the ABC.
Some of Dermott’s other early career experience includes:
Working as part of the 2024 Paris Olympics & Paralympics live operations team at Channel Nine;
Working as a logging statistician and intern digital reporter at Fox Sports Australia where he wrote over 100 sports articles that were published on the Fox Sports’ website, including an interview he did with featherweight title contender Josh Emmett for Fox Sports’ coverage of UFC 284 in Perth;
Completing a legal internship at a law firm based on the Sunshine Coast;
Working in several roles at Ventia, an ASX and NZX listed infrastructure services company, including completing two internships in Ventia’s in-house legal team and going on to manage the end-to-end onboarding process of all suppliers for a $2B, 10-year program of works for Sydney Water.
Current Practice Area
– Torts, including malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, assault, battery, trespass, and conversion.
– Defamation law, injurious falsehood, and suppression/non-publication orders.
Professional Approach & Interest Areas
Outside of his current practice areas, Dermott has a keen interest in several areas of law including intellectual property, sports, and privacy law.
Dermott prides himself on his ability to empathise with his clients and support them through a sometimes complex and challenging legal system while striving to achieve the best result possible for his clients.
Coming from a sporting background, Dermott’s strengths lie in his ability to build relationships, communicate effectively, and work as part of a team to achieve a collective goal.
Dermott prides himself on his ability to empathise with his clients and support them through a sometimes complex and challenging legal system while striving to achieve the best result possible for his clients.
Coming from a sporting background, Dermott’s strengths lie in his ability to build relationships, communicate effectively, and work as part of a team to achieve a collective goal.
