Paul Hardy

Partner

EmailPaul.Hardy@akd.partners

Call+44 (0)7713 359 490

London

About

Paul Hardy has over 25 years' experience working as a lawyer and policy adviser, including practising as a barrister, working in the European Commission in Brussels and as a senior civil servant in the UK Houses of Parliament.

Paul joined AKD Partners from the House of Lords in April 2017, after eight years as the senior EU legal adviser to the UK Parliament. He focusses on international trade and UK government affairs.

Paul advises businesses, public sector organisations and States on the commercial implications of the UK s new free trade agreements post-Brexit, customs, and Word Trade Organisation rules. His professional background makes him well placed to navigate clients through the complexities of the UK s new cross-border regulatory environment, and to understand the new opportunities and risks that will arise. AKD Partners UK LLP is a member of the UK Department for International Trade s (DIT) Trade Law Panel. Paul leads the firm s relationship with DIT under that panel and on bidding for the tender opportunities that arise.

In April 2020, Paul took over as UK Head of Government Affairs from Lord Clement-Jones CBE. The UK practice provides clients with strategic policy advice and engagement strategies for achieving outcomes in Whitehall and Westminster. It combines its political and parliamentary know-how with the legal and regulatory expertise of an all-sector law firm to help clients achieve a desired result. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the legal basis for a policy can be a crucial ingredient in considering how to influence it. The UK government affairs team is part of an inter-connected global government affairs offering within AKD Partners, with centres in Brussels and Washington DC, working across borders in interdisciplinary teams.

Paul holds the qualification of practicing barrister, and also remains a "door tenant" at specialist EU and administrative law barristers' chambers in London, Francis Taylor Building, where he last practiced as a self-employed member of the Bar.

^{AKD Partners UK LLP is registered on the
UK Register of Consultant Lobbyists and
regulated by the Office of the Registrar
of Consultant Lobbyists.}

Areas of FocusLitigation, Arbitration and Investigations Regulatory and Government Affairs

Professional QualificationsBarrister in England and Wales, 1992

Languages

Awards

Band 2: Parliamentary and Public Affairs - Chambers and Partners, 2024
Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer, 2023

Pro Bono

Overview

Paul Hardy is an Employed Barrister working in Litigation & Regulatory group. He specialises in Government Affairs, Trade and Regulatory work. He leads the firm's Brexit advisory service.

Paul has over 25 years' experience as a lawyer and policy adviser including first-hand experience of working for international organisations and the UK Parliament.

He remains a member of the specialist EU and administrative law barristers' chambers, Francis Taylor Building, London.

Experience

1992 to 1998: Barrister, Chambers of Anthony Shaw, Q.C., Red Lion Chambers, London, specialising in crime and human rights.
1998 to 1999: Employed by Belgian NGO, Advocates sans Frontières, to represent defendants in domestic war crimes trials in Rwanda.
1999 to 2000: Rule of Law Officer, Office of the High Representative, Bosnia Herzegovina. Responsible for drafting and implementing judicial reform legislation in the Serbian entity.
From 2000 to 2003: Barrister, Chambers of Andrew Tait Q.C., Francis Taylor Building, London, specialising in administrative law and environmental law and judicial review in the High Court.
From 2003 to 2004: senior legal adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva. Advising common law States on the transposition of international law conventions into domestic law. Drafting implementing legislation. Manager of team of five regional advisers.
From 2004 to 2008: civil servant (fonctionnaire) in the European Commission, where he worked in the foreign policy and human rights directorates.
In 2009 to 2014: Counsel for European Legislation, House of Commons, heading up a team providing EU legal advice to the House and its Select Committees.
From 2014 to 2017: EU Legal Adviser to the House of Lords, carrying out a similar function for the seven EU Select Committees in the Lords.
From 2017 to present: Brexit Director/Legal Director, AKD Partners. Advising businesses, public sector organisations and States on the trade and regulatory implications of Brexit, and how best to manage them. Particular expertise on supply-chain mitigation.

Notable Human Rights Experience

Instructed in an application before the European Court of Human Rights claiming a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights in the election of hereditary peers to the House of Lords, led by Lord Pannick KC.
As an official in the European Commission:
- Participant in the EU negotiating team in the creation of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
- Representing the EU in UN human rights discussions in the UN General Assembly EU representative to the Assembly of States Parties at the International Criminal Court (management and legislative oversight)
- Managing an EU-funded human rights investigation into extra-judicial killing in the Philippines
At Francis Taylor Building: junior counsel in the first case under the Human Rights Act 1998 to reach the House of Lords, Alconbury.

Education

Inns of Court School of Law (Bar Vocational Course), 1992

University of North London, CPE (law conversion), 1991

University of St Andrews M.A., 1989

Publications

"Parliament, Legislation and Accountability", Hart, 2016

Webinars

Prior Experience

In 2014 he was promoted to EU Legal Adviser to the House of Lords, carrying out a similar function for the seven EU Select Committees in the Lords.
In 2009 he was appointed Counsel for European Legislation in the House of Commons, heading up the team providing EU legal advice to the House and its Select Committees.
Over eight years in the UK Parliament Paul reviewed every piece of EU legislation and policy produced by the EU, and played a prominent role in advising Parliament on their implications. His advice on the UK's legal liability to pay into the EU budget after withdrawal was published in a high-profile Lords Select Committee report, the first time the Lords has published internal legal advice.
From 2004 to 2008 he was a civil servant (fonctionnaire) in the European Commission, where he was a legal and policy adviser in the Directorate-General for External Relations. His role included negotiating on behalf of the Commission in Council working groups, and negotiating elements of EU trade agreements.
From 2000 to 2003: Barrister, Chambers of Andrew Tait Q.C., Francis Taylor Building, London, specialising in administrative law and environmental law and judicial review in the High Court.
1992 to 1998: Barrister, Chambers of Anthony Shaw, Q.C., Red Lion Chambers, London, specialising in crime and human rights.
Paul has also worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross, as a legal adviser on judicial reform in Bosnia, and as a trial lawyer in Rwanda.