Shehzad Charania MBE
Biography
Career
Shehzad Charania MBE is the Director of Legal Affairs and International Relations at GCHQ. Shehzad was admitted as a solicitor in 2005. After a number of years in private practice, he joined the Treasury Solicitor’s Department (now the Government Legal Department) before moving to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2009.
Between 2013 and 2016 he worked as the Legal Adviser and Head of International Law at the British Embassy in The Hague. In 2016 he was seconded to the Attorney General’s Office as the Head of International and EU Law, becoming Director in 2019 before taking up the role of Acting Director General and Head of the Attorney General’s Office in September 2020. Over this 5 year period at the AGO, Shehzad was also the International Law Adviser to 10 Downing Street.
Shehzad has been the National Security Community Race Champion since 2019. He is a member of the Board for the UK’s College for National Security. He is also a trustee of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and a member of its Public International Law Advisory Panel.
Previous roles in government
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Director and Deputy Head of the Attorney General’s office