Matthew Flinn

Matthew Flinn is an Associate Member of Chambers, now based in Auckland, New Zealand.

Upon joining Chambers in 2011, Matthew developed a broad practice in the main areas of Chambers’ work, including public law, inquests, data protection, human rights, clinical negligence and personal injury.

During his time with Chambers, Matthew appeared in some of the most prominent inquests in recent years, including those pertaining to the terrorist attacks on the In Amenas gas production facility in Algeria, and the inquest into the Guildford Pub Bombings, in which he was counsel to the inquest, led by Oliver Sanders KC.

He developed a busy practice representing both claimants and defendants in complex clinical and professional negligence cases, and was on the Attorney General’s panel of counsel from 2015 – 2020. In the field of data protection, he was involved in numerous cases involving the application of the GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In that developing and increasingly topical field, he was able to build upon his experience prior to joining Chambers, when he was an advisor to then Prime Minister Helen Clark on the application of the New Zealand Official Information Act 1982 to the Prime Minister’s office.

In 2024 Matthew emigrated back to his native New Zealand, where he is now working with the litigation team at Bell Gully in Auckland, developing a focus in the areas of commercial and banking law, product liability and class actions. In 2025, he joined the Bell Gully team representing the defendants in the biggest class action ever launched in New Zealand, pertaining to oral cold & flu products containing phenylephrine as a nasal decongestant.