Paul Hayes KC is a barrister atn 39 Essex Chambers. He commenced practice as a Barrister at the Sydney Bar in 1990 (read with Bernard Coles QC, University Chambers), before relocating to the Melbourne Bar in 1997 and was called to the bar in England and Wales as a member of Lincoln’s Inn in 2005.

Paul advises and appears in cases at interlocutory, trial and appellate levels, (international law & arbitration, commercial & equity litigation, large scale / complex litigation, sporting disputes and common law litigation), conducted in multiple jurisdictions, but primarily in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, London, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Also appears in jury cases, particularly in civil matters and especially in the field of defamation.

Paul was appointed a Senior Fellow of the University of Melbourne (Faculty of Law) in 2010 and lectures in the subject, ‘Sports Dispute Resolution’.

In 2013, Paul received the Denis Callinan Award for commendable community service in Sports Law from the Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Association and was also appointed by the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC, formerly KLRCA) in Malaysia as Honorary Counsel for Sports Arbitration.

In 2017 Paul was appointed to the World Rugby Anti-Doping Judicial Panel and the International Biathlon Union Court of Arbitration and Anti-Doping Tribunal.

Paul has been ranked in Who’s Who Legal (Australian Barristers) for Sports & Entertainment since 2016.