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Degrees and other qualifications LL.B (Hons) Warwick
Professional associations Member Family Law Bar Association (FLBA)
Member Chancery Bar Association
Practice Profile
Simon practices exclusively in family law; predominantly in the law of financial remedies but also in cohabitation disputes and inheritance claims. He has a particular interest in cases involving business assets and trusts; although he is happy to deal with more straightforward cases. Simon also accepts public access work.
Simon is a qualified family mediator and undertakes mediation in children, family finance, Inheritance Act and TOLATA claims.
Recent cases of interest include:
1. Advising Bermudan lawyers on a huge money ancillary relief case involving complex offshore trusts;
2. Advising and representing a wife in a 5 day final hearing in which the husband was found to have sent large sums of money out of the jurisdiction and which resulted in a costs order of £100,000 in favour of the wife;
3. Advising and representing an unmarried father of unplanned child in a heavily contested case for financial provision under schedule 1;
4. Advising and representing son of deceased iconic UK celebrity in a case where wife was seeking to attack the family trusts as a resource of her husband;
5. Advising on terms of settlement reached in a case involving one of the wealthiest families in the UK;
6. Advising and representing a former minister of state of an African country in ancillary relief proceedings;
7. Acting for the Official Solicitor for a patient with Huntingdon’s Disease;
8. Advising and representing a senior police officer in a case dominated by his £1.7 million pension;
9. Acting as an expert witness on English law in proceedings in British Columbia;
10. Advising and representing CEOs of FTSE listed companies in financial remedy proceedings where significant issues arose in respect of complex share option schemes.
Prior to specialising exclusively in family law, Simon had a mixed practice which included advising in the Dorothea Allen intestacy (one of the largest ever intestate estates),representing well known boxing promoters on a number of cases (both in the High Court and in front of the British Boxing Board of Control), Apple Corps Ltd v Cooper [1993] FSR 286 (a copyright claim in respect of the Sgt Pepper album cover), Wittman v Willdav [2007] BLR 509 CA (a leading case on guarantees), India Herbs v Hadley & Ottaway (cited in Clerk & Lindsell on Torts at 14-46) and In re Chittock (5th April 2000) TLR (lead case on time for rectification of wills)
Publications
Co-author of Unlocking Matrimonial Assets on Divorce published by Family Law. The book, now in its third edition, deals with the more complex areas of the law of financial remedies and was recently described in a review as having ‘become an established fixture on the Family Lawyer’s bookshelf’ and ‘a most worthwhile addition to the ancillary relief practitioner’s library of indispensable texts’: May [2010] Fam Law 554.
The Review author of regular Finance Case Digests for Resolution’s in-house magazine
Contributor to 1, Garden Court book on Schedule 1 Claims published by Family Law
Simon is also a member of the Advisory Board for family law for Jordan Publishing
Seminars and Lectures
Over the years Simon has chaired seminars and lectured on financial remedies for Family Law as part of their CPD training courses in Bristol, Birmingham, Cambridge and, of course, London.
Simon has also lectured for regional Resolution groups in Milton Keynes, Oxford, Kent and Surrey, provided seminars for individual firms of solicitors and commented on recent developments in case law for Legal Network TV. Keep up to date with the latest legal developments and receive practical tips by following Simon on Twitter @ familybarrister.
Further Details
Other areas of specialisation:
Schedue 1 claims
Child Support
Cohabitation disputes including Trusts of Land claims;
Inheritance Act claims; and
Wills and Probate
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