Paul Hardy

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 30 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, DLA Piper. 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.

• Insights from the UK Autumn Budget, with Lord David Blunkett and Lord Gavin Barwell, 30 October 2026
• Consumer Class Actions at the Crossroads: The UK Government’s Consultation and the Implications for Business, 22 September 2026
• The first 100 days: Assessing Andy Burnham's policy priorities and implications for industry, 20 July 2026
• FIRS is here - are you compliant?, 20 April 2026
• EU Forced Labour Regulation - What you need to know now, 18 March 2026
• CIRCLE: International Trade in 2025, 03 July 2025
• EU, UK and US Relations, 10 December 2024
• Panel Event on Trade Remedies, 23 July 2024
• European elections 2024: Potential implications for US and cross-border businesses, 18 July 2024
  
• "What Business Should Expect from a Labour Government"
• "The upcoming UK General Election 2024 - key priorities for business"

• 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.