For a law firm advising clients on how they can navigate the European Union institutions to get what they want, having a former European commissioner to call on for advice is a big deal.
DLA Piper, an international law firm that has offices and lawyers in more than 40 countries, including Ireland, was not shy in gloating about bagging one.
Phil Hogan, Ireland’s former EU commissioner for trade, had been appointed as a “senior strategic and political adviser” to the law firm, according to a September 15th, 2021, announcement. It said Mr Hogan would be “spearheading a growing team” of policy, legal and industry experts, in the firm’s “government affairs” unit in its Brussels office.
Mr Hogan, a former senior figure in Fine Gael, had been forced to resign from his powerful EU commission position about a year beforehand, as one of the big political casualties of the Golfgate controversy during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Out of frontline politics, Mr Hogan set up a consultancy firm, Hogan Strategic Advisory Services, which records show has since brought in revenues of at least €1 million a year.
The European Commission has strict rules governing where former commissioners can work during a two-year “cooling off” period, to avoid the perception of a revolving door between the top of the EU’s executive arm and private companies or lobbyists. The commission has an independent ethics committee that examines whether former commissioners’ work complies with those rules.
When Mr Hogan told the commission he planned to start a consultancy firm, certain restrictions were put on what work he could take on. His clients could not be heavily involved in policy areas he covered as commissioner for trade, and before that commissioner for agriculture, until his “cooling off” period ended in August 2022. He sought and received clearance to take on UK company Vodafone as one of his first high-profile corporate clients.
Documents released to The Irish Times show DLA Piper’s announcement that Mr Hogan was coming on board as an adviser sparked alarm within the commission.
Ilze Juhansone, secretary general of the commission, wrote to Mr Hogan to state he was required to flag future work during the two-year period with the commission, in case it warranted review. “Such a notification does not seem to have reached us,” she wrote on September 21st, 2021.
[ Phil Hogan declares €1m revenues from consultancy firmOpens in new window ]
In response, Mr Hogan said the announcement had led to a misunderstanding. He was not joining the law firm as an employee, but a consultant providing “high-level external advice”, he wrote. “I will not engage with company clients in relation to trade and agriculture. I will not engage in lobbying the services of my previous departments until August 2022,” he said.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen decided to refer the matter to the ethics committee, to examine whether the work fell foul of its rules.
The committee said there was a “substantial discrepancy” between the law firm’s announcement and information provided by Mr Hogan, which created doubt and “a risk of reputational damage” for the commission. In a December 10th, 2021, letter, the independent panel advised that they would likely issue a “negative opinion” about Mr Hogan’s work with the firm.
Dagmar Roth-Behrendt, a former senior German MEP who sat on the committee, said the law firm specialised in international trade. Mr Hogan had previously been told to avoid taking on clients who were “major stakeholders” in areas covered by his former portfolios for the two-year period, she wrote.
His failure to notify the commission beforehand about the consultancy could constitute a “breach” of rules, she said. The committee noted Mr Hogan had shared excerpts from his contract to show he was not an employee of DLA Piper.
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However, in the absence of further information, the committee said it took the view Mr Hogan should “suspend his activities” with DLA Piper, until the end of the two-year transition period.
In a March 3rd, 2022, response, Mr Hogan said he would pause his work with DLA Piper until September that year, after the restrictions would be lifted. He said this was to ensure there was “absolutely no doubt” about his compliance with rules for former commissioners. The former Fine Gael minister reiterated his consultancy work with the law firm had not involved any crossover into his previous EU briefs in trade or agriculture.
The correspondence was released to The Irish Times by the commission in response to an access to information request. Mr Hogan said he had no comment to make when contacted.
New financial filings show his firm, Hogan Strategic Advisory Services, brought in revenue of between €200,000 and €300,000 working for DLA Piper in 2023. It declared between €100,000 and €200,000 in revenue the year before, having resumed consultancy work for the law firm in the final four months of 2022.
His other big clients include US banking giant JP Morgan, Vodafone and card payment company Visa, according to filings submitted to an official EU transparency register. In total his consultancy company declared revenues of at least €1 million in 2023, and the same amount the year before.
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