Bird & Bird LLP

TMT

Simon is the Head of Country for Saudi Arabia, the Head of TMT for the Middle East, and he established the international cyber-security team back in 2010.

Before moving to live in Riyadh and establish Bird & Bird's Saudi Arabia office, Simon worked in the firm's Dubai and London offices. His Arabian adventures began in 1990 when he was an external lawyer to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in London and he has been engaged in commercial projects across the GCC ever since.

Simon is a commercial lawyer engaged in providing a full spectrum of legal support to clients for their day-to-day business. Whilst that support has a broad scope, including the buying or selling of goods and services and the outsourcing of business processes, a constant feature of his work is technology. Simon works in the core of Bird & Bird's sweet spot - assisting businesses to rise to the challenge of technological change. Accordingly, much of his practice today involves software, SaaS and PaaS, blockchain and, of course, AI.

Simon has an extremely diverse client base, from racing car engine designers and international investment banks, to world leading events companies, software businesses and healthcare operators. What brings them together is the application of practical commercial law to complex business relationships and transactions.

Over the years, he has built-up significant expertise in outsourcing in the domestic, near shore and far shore markets. He can also offer deep-level experience in complex IT transactions and IT procurement.

Simon began his legal career as a litigator across a whole range of commercial disputes, often with an IT flavour. This combination of contentious and non-contentious experience enables him to bring real flexibility to the table, along with a valuable perspective to both strategy and negotiation.

English

Law Society of England & Wales in 1990

University of Oxford, MA (Oxon), Jurisprudence