Quick Facts
Biography
Sir Paul Christopher Jenkins, KCB, QC (Hon) is a British barrister in practice at Matrix Chambers where he specialises in inquiries, reviews and investigatory work in the UK and internationally. He also advises on government relations, crisis management and good governance.
From 2006 until February 2014, he was the Treasury Solicitor, the United Kingdom Government's principal legal official, in which role he served as the Attorney General's Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive of the Treasury Solicitor's Department (TSol). He was also Her Majesty's Procurator General and, as Head of the Government Legal Service, head of profession for the 2,000 lawyers advising government. He took office as Treasury Solicitor in August 2006 and was appointed Queen's Counsel (honoris causa) on 30 March 2009.
Jenkins was called to the Bar of England and Wales in July 1977 and first joined the Government Legal Service in 1979. His Government career started in TSol, but he then moved to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, before moving back to TSol as the Legal Adviser to the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). From 1998, he was the Legal Adviser to the Lord Chancellor's Department, which then became the Department of Constitutional Affairs where he was Director General of the Legal and International Groups. From 2004 until he took on the role as Treasury Solicitor in 2006, he was at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), where he was the Legal Adviser to both DWP and the Department of Health.
He also held the role of Civil Service Diversity Champion. He served on the Board of the Europäische Rechtsakademie from 2002 to 2014 and is now a Trustee of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law. He is a Bencher of the Middle Temple and has been a non-executive member of the Executive Committee since 2007. He is also an Independent Member of the Ethics Committee at Tate.
Personal life
Jenkins was educated at Harrow County School for Boys and Manchester University.
He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2012 Birthday Honours.
He was the most senior openly gay member of the civil service.
He has been in a Civil Partnership with René Hansen since 2009.