Paul Stevenson

Overview

Paul is the Deputy Official Solicitor (Deputy General Counsel) to the Church Commissioners, a substantial proprietary investor and endowment with £10.4bn AUM (2023) and is deputy director of legal for the National Institutions of the Church of England, which comprise several substantial national charities and corporations which work at the intersection of public and private law.

Paul and his team support a diverse and complex range of activities including corporate and compliance affairs, data governance, asset management, disputes, regulatory and legislative affairs, and human resources. This includes advice and support for the Commissioners’ investment functions, along with the other stewardship functions which they undertake, including the management of an historic property portfolio (including Lambeth Palace), and the co-regulation of cathedrals along with the Charity Commission. There is a strong ESG dimension to this work, arising from the Church Commissioners’ long-established credentials in ethical investment. It also includes work to support the internationally significant collection at Lambeth Palace Library.

Paul leads on the management of disputes and recent work has included appeals in the EAT and the Court of Appeal, and an appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

During his time in Chambers Paul was seconded to the Government Legal Department to support the response of the Home Office and FCDO to claims arising from individuals who alleged that the government had been complicit in their detention at Guantanamo Bay, along with other judicial review claims.

Paul sits as a hearing chair appointed by the Access Disputes Committee, and hears disputes which arise under the Network Code (contractual disputes under substantial infrastructure contracts which regulate the rights of train operating companies over public infrastructure).

Paul’s practice in Chambers covered all matters with a property, trust, commercial or employment relationship at the centre. Paul often advised substantial institutions including local authorities and NHS trusts. Paul had a particular practice in partnership and company matters, along with a niche practice in art law, and the recovery of specie (Paul advised on and supported the recovery of unique and high-value chattels).   Paul has a particular interest in ADR and has contributed to the first two volumes of Pleading in Arbitration: a Practitioner’s Guide (Clark and Walker).

Paul’s interests include art, cultural heritage, education,  philanthropy, and good placemaking. He is particularly interested in the use of data to drive good decisions. He is a director and trustee of the Collections Trust, and is a director and trustee of the Museum Data Service, launched in September 2024 supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), which will start to bring together on one platform all the object records from across all UK museums – the UK’s extraordinarily rich national collection.

He is a member of Professional Advisers to the International Art Market and a frequent blogger for the Institute of Art and Law, a contributor to journal Art and Antiquity Law.

Paul has a substantial interest in effective regulatory practice and strong corporate governance. Since 2019 he has been the vice chair of the joint audit committee of the Bar Council and Bar Standards Board. He has sat on a number of audit committees, and was formerly the audit chair for an academy trust.