PRACTICE FOCUS
Business Law, Legislative, Regulatory and Governmental Services

BIOGRAPHY

Harold C. Pachios is a Founding Partner of Preti Flaherty and practices primarily Business and Regulatory Law. His distinguished career has carried him from the White House to the U.S. Department of Transportation, and through several national political campaigns, most recently as Maine State Counsel for the 2008 Obama-Biden Campaign.

Harold was Associate White House Press Secretary under President Lyndon B. Johnson, serving as principal aide to White House Press Secretary Bill Moyers from 1965 to 1967. He came to the White House after serving as Deputy Congressional Liaison for the Peace Corps during that agency's earliest years, a post in which he advised members of Congress and assisted the program's director, Sargent Shriver, on Congressional matters. He also assisted the task force that wrote the Federal legislation creating the Office of Equal Opportunity, helping to develop legislation to launch Head Start, VISTA and Job Corps, among other programs. Harold left the White House in 1967 to become attorney-advisor to the Secretary of the newly created Department of Transportation, where he used his skills to negotiate with State and local governments throughout the country to resolve Federal and State public policy conflicts.

Returning to Maine to practice law, he continued his involvement in public policy as Chairman of the Maine Democratic State Committee and was the Democratic nominee in Maine's First Congressional District in 1980.

In 1993 he was nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a member of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. The President designated him Chairman of the Commission in 1999.  President Bush nominated him in 2003 for a third term of the Commission, and he was again confirmed by the Senate. The Commission, and its Washington staff, advise the President, Secretary of State, and Congress on public diplomacy programs carried out by the State Department and U.S. embassies around the world. He was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on Public Diplomacy and Secretary Colin Powell’s Task Force on Public Diplomacy in the Middle East.  

Harold was born in New Haven, Connecticut; grew up in Cape Elizabeth, Maine; and graduated from Princeton University in 1959. He served as a lieutenant aboard a U.S. Navy transport ship and then moved to Washington, D.C., where he earned a law degree from Georgetown University.

PRACTICE HIGHLIGHTS

After a decade in Federal government and more than 35 years of legal practice, Harold now pursues projects ranging from complex litigation before administrative tribunals and courts to counseling corporate clients in contract, real estate, regulatory, and shareholder matters. He serves as general counsel for several corporate clients and also counsels clients on governmental and legislative issues. He is listed in Woodward-White’s 2008 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

As lobbyist for a coalition of environmental groups, he was instrumental in the initial enactment, more than 35 years ago, of Maine's landmark site location and coastal pollution laws. He has been lead counsel in the environmental permitting process for several large facilities and has been an advocate on environmental and other issues for several clients, including national trade associations, before Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS / AFFILIATIONS

• Council on Foreign Relations, Member
• PortlandRegional Chamber of Commerce, Board Member
• University of Maine School of Law, Chairman of the Board of Visitors
• MaineBar Foundation, Fellow
• Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Honorary Lifetime Trustee
• Common Cause, National Governing Board
• Universityof Southern Maine, Board of Visitors
• Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute, Board Member
• BowdoinCollege, Former Lecturer on Environmental Law
• Hellenic-AmericanSchool of Business (Athens), Board Member

CIVIC INVOLVEMENT

• PortlandSymphony Orchestra, Past-President
• National Committee for Symphony and Orchestra Support, Past-President
• American Symphony Orchestra League, Past Vice-Chairman
• SalzburgSeminar (Austria), Former Board Member
• Former trustee of the American College of Greece, of the Maine College of Art, and of Maine Maritime Academy
• PortlandBoys Club, Past-Director
• CapeElizabeth SchoolBoard, Former Chairman
• Legislative Committee of the United States Olympic Committee, Former Member

In addition, he has served as chairman of the committee appointed by Senator George J. Mitchell to develop proposals for reform of Federal campaign finance laws, and also chaired the committee appointed by Senator Mitchell to advise on selection of a U.S. Attorney for Maine.

Admissions
Maine

Education
J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 1965
A.B., Princeton University, 1959