Simon Colledge

Expertise Simon Advises Experience highlights Career History Testimonials

Partner

Dispute Resolution

+44 (0) 7736 156 964
“Net promoter Score (NPS) is a system used to measure the quality of service given to a client from their feedback. The score ranges from -100 to +100, a “positive” score or NPS above 0 is considered “good”, +50 is “Excellent,” and above 70 is considered “world class”.

Expertise

Simon is an extremely versatile and experienced commercial litigator, having worked in the London market for over thirty years where he has been recognised by Legal 500 and Chambers as a notable practitioner in litigation and dispute resolution. He has also been listed in the Thomson Reuters Stand-out list, having been nominated by clients.

He uses his wealth of experience to guide clients towards cost-effective and practical solutions which align the client’s attitude to risk and cost with their commercial objectives to determine the best strategy. He is a proponent of well-timed ADR, without diluting his rigorous and committed approach to formal litigation.

Simon has handled a wide variety of cases for clients ranging from large multinational corporations to private individuals. He often works closely with in-house counsel in an advisory capacity and believes strongly that early intervention is better than crisis response. In addition to his general commercial practice, particular areas of expertise include contentious insolvency, professional negligence and fraud.

 

Simon Advises

  • Corporates and in-house counsel
  • Directors, shareholders, partners/LLP members, investors and other stakeholders
  • Insolvency practitioners
  • Litigation funders
  • Financial institutions
  • Private individuals

Experience highlights

Recent Highlights

  • Acting on a number of recent warranty claims including tax indemnity claims arising out of the acquisition of an oil and gas service company with tax liabilities in 5 jurisdictions, claims arising from a private equity acquisition of a retail software provider against vendors and the warranty and indemnity insurers and claims for a household-name storage company arising from their acquisition of a data storage company
  • Obtaining Norwich Pharmacal relief from UK banks for Saudi and US corporate victims of malicious misdirection push-payment fraud leading to a successful recovery of funds for the clients
  • Acting for a bridging loan lender in a professional negligence claim against a surveyor for overvaluation and obtaining a successful recovery
  • Acting for a UK startup against a UK bank in relation to the unlawful closure of its bank account and freezing of its investment capital and securing release of its funds
  • Representing a national logistics provider in a longstanding dispute with a household-name national supermarket chain relating to the distribution of newspapers and magazines to its stores in the UK and Ireland
  • Advising a London Hospital PFI company in respect of a number of complex disputes with the hospital NHS Trust, including through contractual adjudication
  • Acting for an NHS managed service provider in a dispute relating to the provision of UK wide laboratory based testing services
  • Acting for a Dutch engineering company in a dispute relating to a hydro-electric scheme in the UK
  • Acting as part of a substantial team advising the Official Receiver and PWC as Special Managers on the Carillion liquidation including applications to liquidate group companies and appoint Special Managers, retention of title and set-off issues, termination and transitioning of substantial overseas debt recovery issues
  • Acting for a furniture manufacturing company facing a winding-up petition from HMRC, applying for administration leading ultimately to the rescue and successful restructuring of the business
  • Advising and representing creditors faced with insolvent counterparties (eg Acer computers in the Comet insolvency)
  • Acting for liquidators of telecoms company used as a vehicle for the directors’ fraud which involved obtaining freezing injunctions and subsequent recoveries through their bankruptcies over a six-year period with multiple contested hearings
  • Acting for a litigation funder which acquires claims from insolvency officeholders in a claim relating to a disputed trust arrangement over a bankrupt’s properties

Other Highlights

  • Acting for secured lenders and their mortgage indemnity insurers in numerous professional negligence claims against surveyors and solicitors, including a number of the major reported cases in the field.
  • Acting for individual defendants in major fraud cases including Versailles Trade Finance and Cadogan Petroleum

Career History

Previous Law firms

  • Dentons, London Partner (2017–2020)
  • Maclay Murray & Spens (later merged with Dentons), London Partner (2006–2017)
  • Orchard, London Partner (1999–2006)
  • Rosling King, London Partner (1995–1999), Associate (1990–1995)
  • J&A Hastie, Edinburgh Trainee (1987–1989), Associate (1989–1990)

Memberships

  • Law Societies of Scotland and England and Wales
  • R3, Professional Negligence Lawyers Association

Education

  • The University of Edinburgh, LLB Honours and Diploma in Legal Practice
  • Fettes College, Edinburgh

Expertise

Back to top

Simon is an extremely versatile and experienced commercial litigator, having worked in the London market for over thirty years where he has been recognised by Legal 500 and Chambers as a notable practitioner in litigation and dispute resolution. He has also been listed in the Thomson Reuters Stand-out list, having been nominated by clients.

He uses his wealth of experience to guide clients towards cost-effective and practical solutions which align the client’s attitude to risk and cost with their commercial objectives to determine the best strategy. He is a proponent of well-timed ADR, without diluting his rigorous and committed approach to formal litigation.

Simon has handled a wide variety of cases for clients ranging from large multinational corporations to private individuals. He often works closely with in-house counsel in an advisory capacity and believes strongly that early intervention is better than crisis response. In addition to his general commercial practice, particular areas of expertise include contentious insolvency, professional negligence and fraud.

 

Simon Advises

Back to top
  • Corporates and in-house counsel
  • Directors, shareholders, partners/LLP members, investors and other stakeholders
  • Insolvency practitioners
  • Litigation funders
  • Financial institutions
  • Private individuals

Experience highlights

Back to top

Recent Highlights

  • Acting on a number of recent warranty claims including tax indemnity claims arising out of the acquisition of an oil and gas service company with tax liabilities in 5 jurisdictions, claims arising from a private equity acquisition of a retail software provider against vendors and the warranty and indemnity insurers and claims for a household-name storage company arising from their acquisition of a data storage company
  • Obtaining Norwich Pharmacal relief from UK banks for Saudi and US corporate victims of malicious misdirection push-payment fraud leading to a successful recovery of funds for the clients
  • Acting for a bridging loan lender in a professional negligence claim against a surveyor for overvaluation and obtaining a successful recovery
  • Acting for a UK startup against a UK bank in relation to the unlawful closure of its bank account and freezing of its investment capital and securing release of its funds
  • Representing a national logistics provider in a longstanding dispute with a household-name national supermarket chain relating to the distribution of newspapers and magazines to its stores in the UK and Ireland
  • Advising a London Hospital PFI company in respect of a number of complex disputes with the hospital NHS Trust, including through contractual adjudication
  • Acting for an NHS managed service provider in a dispute relating to the provision of UK wide laboratory based testing services
  • Acting for a Dutch engineering company in a dispute relating to a hydro-electric scheme in the UK
  • Acting as part of a substantial team advising the Official Receiver and PWC as Special Managers on the Carillion liquidation including applications to liquidate group companies and appoint Special Managers, retention of title and set-off issues, termination and transitioning of substantial overseas debt recovery issues
  • Acting for a furniture manufacturing company facing a winding-up petition from HMRC, applying for administration leading ultimately to the rescue and successful restructuring of the business
  • Advising and representing creditors faced with insolvent counterparties (eg Acer computers in the Comet insolvency)
  • Acting for liquidators of telecoms company used as a vehicle for the directors’ fraud which involved obtaining freezing injunctions and subsequent recoveries through their bankruptcies over a six-year period with multiple contested hearings
  • Acting for a litigation funder which acquires claims from insolvency officeholders in a claim relating to a disputed trust arrangement over a bankrupt’s properties

Other Highlights

  • Acting for secured lenders and their mortgage indemnity insurers in numerous professional negligence claims against surveyors and solicitors, including a number of the major reported cases in the field.
  • Acting for individual defendants in major fraud cases including Versailles Trade Finance and Cadogan Petroleum

Career History

Back to top

Previous Law firms

  • Dentons, London Partner (2017–2020)
  • Maclay Murray & Spens (later merged with Dentons), London Partner (2006–2017)
  • Orchard, London Partner (1999–2006)
  • Rosling King, London Partner (1995–1999), Associate (1990–1995)
  • J&A Hastie, Edinburgh Trainee (1987–1989), Associate (1989–1990)

Memberships

  • Law Societies of Scotland and England and Wales
  • R3, Professional Negligence Lawyers Association

Education

  • The University of Edinburgh, LLB Honours and Diploma in Legal Practice
  • Fettes College, Edinburgh
Testimonials