Paul Hugh Harricks

Paul Harricks is counsel in Gowling WLG’s Toronto office. As a corporate lawyer, Paul has a strong focus on the energy, nuclear, infrastructure and data centre sectors. For over 25 years, he has been deeply immersed in the Canadian and global energy sector, playing a crucial role in various aspects of the energy transition.

From 2019 to 2023, Paul served as executive vice-president & chief legal officer of Hydro One Limited, Ontario’s largest electric utility, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In this role, he held executive-level responsibility for the company’s legal, regulatory, governance, ethics and compliance functions. As a member of the company’s executive leadership team, Paul worked on complex governance, policy, strategic, regulatory, stakeholder, legal and ESG matters.

Under Paul’s leadership, the Regulatory Affairs team at Hydro One completed the company’s first-ever joint transmission and distribution rate application to the Ontario Energy Board. This three-year process culminated in 2022 with a complete settlement of all issues, marking an unprecedented accomplishment.

Before joining Hydro One, Paul led the Energy Group at Gowling WLG from 2010 and also led the firm’s Infrastructure Group. Additionally, he spent four years as head of Gowling WLG’s Toronto Business Law Department and, in that capacity, was a member of the six-person Management Committee for the firm’s Toronto office.

Throughout his career, Paul has assisted clients with a wide range of private and public M&A transactions in several industries, with a strong but not exclusive focus on the power sector since 1999. He has also been involved, as both a team leader and team member, in the formation and governance of infrastructure investment funds, downstream investments in public-private partnerships, debt capital market transactions in the electricity distribution sector, nuclear new-build and refurbishment projects, and project development work in various sectors.