Overview

Simon has a busy practice across a range of chancery and commercial work, with a particular focus on insolvency and companies work.

Simon appears in the Court of Appeal, High Court, the Court of Protection, and County Court.  He is regularly instructed in interim applications, trials and appeals.  As well as his advocacy work, Simon provides advice across the full range of his practice areas, and he has experience of both contentious and non-contentious drafting.  He has advised clients at mediations and has experience of assisting clients to negotiate settlements to claims, including at the door of the court.

Simon is one of the editors of the current edition of Schaw-Miller and Bailey on Personal Insolvency (2017 edition, LexisNexis) and of the forthcoming edition of Gough on Company Charges (LexisNexis), and is the general editor of chambers’ magazine, the Three Stone Triannual Review.  He regularly writes and speaks on areas relevant to his practice.

Cases of interest

  • Deacon v Yaseen: Instructed for the defendant in a case about the valuation of doctors’ surgery premises for the purposes of the buy-out of a retiring partner. (Bristol District Registry, HHJ Matthews sitting as a judge of the High Court, [2020] EWHC 465 (Ch))
  • Re MJT Consultants Ltd: Instructed for the liquidator and the company in a claim against a director of the company concerning breaches of his director’s duties, which holds that a company should not and cannot be tainted by the conduct of the office-holder such as to be refused relief under the clean hands doctrine (Insolvency and Companies Court, Deputy ICC Judge Baister, 2019, unreported)
  • Delaforte v Flood: Instructed for the first defendant in a contested claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (County Court at Central London, HHJ Johns QC, 2019, unreported)
  • Amin v London Borough of Redbridge: Instructed for the trustee in an appeal concerning who should pay the costs following the annulment of a bankruptcy order which itself followed a successful appeal of council tax liability orders (Chancery Division, Nugee J, [2018] EWHC 3100 (Ch), [2018] All ER (D) 82 (Nov), [2019] BPIR 1, [2019] RVR 133))
  • Re HH: Instructed for the first respondent in a case concerning the retrospective approval of payments made by an attorney. (Court of Protection, HHJ Vincent, [2018] EWCOP 13, [2018] COPLR 311, [2018] WTLR 693)
  • Re D’Eye: Instructed for a number of the respondents to at application under s 284 of the Insolvency Act 1986, which provides important guidance on the meaning and nature of that section and the court’s jurisdiction arising under it, in particular on the inter-relation between that section and the law of unjust enrichment. (Bankruptcy, Chief Registrar Baister, [2016] BPIR 883, [2016] All ER (D) 66 (May))
  • Galaxy Aviation v Sayegh Group: Instructed for the claimant in a multi-day trial in the Commercial Court relating to the leases of aircraft in the Middle East. (Commercial Court, Andrew Smith J, [2015] EWHC 3478 (Comm), [2015] All ER (D) 59 (Dec))
  • Ewetuga v Derbyshire Home Loans Ltd: Instructed for the respondent in an application by the appellant in the Court of Appeal to reinstate an application for permission to appeal which had been dismissed for failing to file a bundle. (Court of Appeal, Sir Colin Rimer, [2015] EWCA Civ 922)
  • Re Earthly Energy Ltd: Instructed for the company to resist an administration order. (Birmingham District Registry, HHJ Purle QC, [2014] EWHC 1576 (Ch))
  • Muhammed v Robert: Instructed for the trustee in bankruptcy in an appeal holding that the right to challenge a default judgment vests in the trustee upon bankruptcy, and that it had to be assumed that he would challenge the judgment if there were good grounds for such a challenge to be made. (Chancery Division, David Richards J, [2014] EWHC 4800 (Ch))

Memberships

Education

Prior to being called to the Bar, Simon was awarded a First in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History (MA) and a Distinction in Landscape Archaeology (MPhil) at St John’s College, Oxford. He trained for the Bar at City University (Graduate Diploma in Law) and City Law School (Bar Vocational Course).

Publications

Simon is one of the editors of the current edition of Schaw-Miller and Bailey on Personal Insolvency (2017 edition, LexisNexis) and of the forthcoming edition of Gough on Company Charges (forthcoming, LexisNexis).

In addition to his print publications, Simon has written case and legislation summaries for online and print publications including Lexis®PSL Restructuring and Insolvency, Recovery, and Law and Religion UK and has written and edited practice notes and forms for Lexis®PSL.

Simon is also the general editor of the Three Stone magazine, the Three Stone Triannual Review, for which he also writes regularly.

Past seminars & events

Simon is happy to speak on aspects of the law within his practice areas. He has contributed to chambers’ seminars and given talks at individual firms and for industry bodies.

Personal interests

In his spare time, Simon enjoys singing, walking, and reading. He maintains a keen interest in archaeology and history, particularly of the Classical period.