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Practice Summary

Simon Gilson’s practice covers a broad spectrum of commercial work in litigation and arbitration.  Simon has experience acting as junior to leading commercial silks in a series of complex, high-value cases including in the areas of banking and finance, civil fraud, energy and natural resources and professional liability. As sole counsel, he regularly advises and represents individuals and companies in relation to commercial and company disputes.

Simon is currently preparing for a 13-week Financial List trial commencing in June 2020 in OMERS Administration Corporation and others v Tesco Plc in which he acts (with Neil Kitchener QC and Richard Mott) for 58 institutional investors in high-profile c.US$480m claims against Tesco arising out of its historic profit overstatements. These are the first claims under s.90A FSMA 2000 for fraudulent financial reporting by a public company and featured in The Lawyer’s Top 20 cases for 2020. Recent interlocutory judgments in the proceedings are reported at [2019] EWHC 2858 (Ch) and [2019] EWHC 3312 (Ch).

Other recent matters include:

  • Primeo Fund v HSBC (FSD 30/2013): Successfully defending two HSBC Group companies (led by Richard Gillis QC) in a three-month trial of c.$2bn professional negligence claims in the Cayman Islands arising out of the Madoff securities fraud ([2017] (2) CILR 334). Primeo’s appeal was dismissed by the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal and a Privy Council hearing is pending.
     
  • Xie Zhikun and others v XiO GP Limited and others: Advising and acting in arbitral and court proceedings with Lord Grabiner QC in a billion-dollar multi-jurisdictional private equity dispute.
     
  • Acting and appearing (unled) in strike-out/summary judgment hearings in a c.£2m renewable electricity dispute.
     
  • Acting for Deutsche Bank AG (with Sonia Tolaney QC) in circa €500m litigation arising out of the collapse of Kaupthing bank.
     
  • Acting for News Group Newspapers Ltd (led by Antony White QC and Anthony Hudson QC) in the Mobile Telephone Voicemail Interception Litigation, arising out of allegations of phone hacking at the News of the World.

Simon is proficient in French and Spanish.