Paul Tweed, who has acted in high-profile defamation cases for a string of big names, is writing a new book about his career.
He spoke to the Sunday Times ahead of the launch of From Holywood to Hollywood, which is due out next month.
Mr Tweed spoke about Andrew’s “disastrous” interview about his relationship with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
“I knew it was a bad idea. It’s not just Prince Andrew’s case, it’s any client’s case,” he told the Sunday Times.
“To expose a client in that type of interview, without preparation, and to put him in front of a very experienced interviewer like Emily Maitlis, was madness. It was madness to do it. I made that clear.”
In the 2019 interview, Andrew said he had no recollection of meeting Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was “forced to have sex” with Andrew when she was 17. Andrew has always vigorously denied the allegations.
In 2022, the duke paid her an undisclosed financial settlement to settle her sexual assault lawsuit against him, but he did so without admitting liability.
Mr Tweed had been photographed with Andrew at Royal Portrush Golf Club three months before the BBC interview.
Although he was a friend of the York family and had previously represented Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, on other unrelated matters, he was not acting as Andrew’s lawyer.
Reflecting on the Duke’s decision to ignore his advice and go ahead with the interview, which is now seen as a textbook case of PR disaster, Mr Tweed said: “It was entirely Andrew’s decision. He decided to do it and the rest is history.”
He said last week that he maintained contact with the royal family and was “still working for some members”.
“At the end of the day, there are always two sides to every story. When we talk about the court of justice and the court of public opinion, you probably have a perfect example there,” he said of the meeting.
Mr Tweed told the Sunday Times he would not be “intimidated by public opinion” over his association with the duke when asked if it had damaged his own reputation.
“I will not be intimidated by public opinion in what I do. I do what I think is right,” he added.
“I thought it wouldn’t hurt if he was just photographed with a defamation lawyer.
“Bear in mind this was about three months before the Newsnight interview. At that stage it was just a matter of trying to get him to understand what I was thinking. You’re dealing with someone who’s not used to everyday life,” he said.
The Belfast lawyer acknowledged the conflicted nature of his decision to meet Andrew and urged him not to take part in the interview.
“People are either going to love me or hate me for this,” he said.
Over the course of his career, Mr. Tweed has been commissioned by celebrities including Liam Neeson, Justin Timberlake, Tom Cruise, Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez, among a prestigious list of clients.
His memoir will chronicle his distinguished career, legal victories and explore his concerns about AI and unregulated social media platforms.