Michael Stern

Admitted to Practice, Australia, England and Wales
Foreign Legal Advisor, Samuel Seow Law Corporation

Email: michaelstern@sslawcorp.com

Michael is qualified as a lawyer in both Australia and England and Wales, and is Foreign Legal Advisor to Samuel Seow Law Corporation.

Michael started his career at the Australian law firm of Allen Allen and Hemsley (now Allens Arthur Robinson) spending time not only in Sydney but also in Toronto, New York and London. Whilst at Allens, Michael worked in the Media and Technology Group acting for clients such as Consolidated Press, Channel 9 and BSkyB. Michael decided then to move from private practice to in-house, and accepted the position of Head of Legal and Business Affairs at The Family Channel before being appointed Director of Legal and Business Affairs at Flextech Television (now Virgin Media). Whilst at Flextech Television, Michael was part of the legal team that negotiated the formation of the UKTV joint venture, BBC's first commercial venture in the UK.


Following his time at Flextech Television Michael moved to Entertainment Rights Plc as Director of Legal and Business Affairs where he established and ran the legal function of the Group. Michael left Entertainment Rights in 2007 to set up Alpha Media which now provides legal and business affairs services to the media industry. Michael has worked closely with broadcasters, producers and distributers as well as digital media companies in his career. His experience includes:

  • Negotiating television production and co-production agreements;

  • Negotiating and advising on talent agreements;

  • Negotiating television licenses and ancillary rights agreements including merchandising licenses, home entertainment licenses and publishing agreements;

  • Advising on and conducting intellectual property rights review;

  • Advising on and negotiating corporate acquisitions and disposals;

  • Advising on digital rights and convergence; and

  • Advising on music rights strategies and negotiating licenses with collecting societies.

In his spare time Michael enjoys keeping fit (with limited success) and sampling new wines (with considerable success).