Michael Hardy

Background

Hardy's documented life is centred on Western Australia, where he studied, was admitted to the bar, and built his legal and business career. Perth, the state capital, was the base of the firms with which he was associated.

Education

Hardy studied at the University of Western Australia, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws. His legal education there preceded his admission to the bar in Western Australia in 1977.

The University of Western Australia was established in 1911 by an act of the state parliament, making it the first university in Western Australia. It opened in 1913 with 184 students in buildings on Irwin Street in central Perth, and moved to its Crawley campus in 1932. Its Faculty of Law was established in 1927, the university's fourth faculty.

Career

Hardy was admitted to the bar in Western Australia in 1977 and went on to practise law in the state. Business profiles describe him as a partner of Clayton Utz, formerly Robinson Cox, from 1983 to 2002. Robinson Cox had origins in Albany, where Robert Thomson Robinson, called to the bar in 1889, formed a partnership with Samuel Johnson Haynes in 1897. The firm later had a Perth office on Howard Street and was renamed Robinson, Cox & Wheatley in the following decades. Clayton Utz traces its history to 1833, and its name dates from a 1983 merger with Pritchards.

In July 2002, Hardy and Michael Bowen, who had been partners at Clayton Utz for more than sixteen years, established Hardy Bowen, a corporate boutique providing legal services to clients in Western Australia and other jurisdictions. The firm was absorbed by a larger national firm in June 2015. According to Lawyers Weekly, Hardy did not move across with the corporate practice and took an indefinite break from legal practice.

From 2004 to 2017 Hardy was a non-executive director of Fleetwood Corporation, becoming its chair in 2009. The company began in 1964 as a small caravan business in the suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. It listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1987 and was headquartered in East Perth, operating in the caravan, recreational vehicle, and modular building sectors.

Connections

Collegue :

Michael Bowen

Co-founded Hardy Bowen in July 2002 after both had been partners at Clayton Utz, and was a partner of the firm until its absorption in 2015.

References

• Business News: Michael Hardy Business News profile describing his practice in commercial, property, planning, environmental, and administrative law, and his positions at Clayton Utz, Hardy Bowen, and other organizations.
• DLA picks up corporate practice in Perth Lawyers Weekly report on the move of the Hardy Bowen corporate practice to a larger firm, noting that Michael Hardy, as name partner, did not move across and was taking an indefinite break from legal practice.