Simon has nearly 30 years’ experience as one of Australia’s leading litigation and regulatory risk advisers. He specialises in large-scale, complex commercial litigation and investigations for leading domestic and global clients in the technology and financial services sectors, with particular experience managing high-stakes, multi-jurisdictional disputes.
Simon is regularly called upon to address litigation and regulatory risk issues at board and senior management level. He is a go-to disputes adviser to clients including Google, Airbnb, PayPal, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Bank of China. They seek out Simon for his deep understanding of their business and commercial drivers and his ability to provide strategic, commercially focused advice that resolves matters efficiently and, where possible, without recourse to the courtroom.
His expertise as a leading dispute resolution, litigation, white collar and technology lawyer is acknowledged in several Australian and international directories including Chambers Asia Pacific, Legal 500 Asia Pacific and the Australian Financial Review’s Best Lawyers.
Key deals
Google (Epic Games litigation)
Leading a large partner and solicitor team defending Google in landmark private antitrust proceedings in the Federal Court commenced by Epic Games. Epic alleged that Google misused its market power by restricting app distribution and imposing excessive commissions on in-app purchases through the Google Play Store. The matter, which ran for nearly five years including a five-month liability trial, recently settled as part of a global resolution between Epic and Google.
Google (Play Store class action defence)
Defending Google in a class action commenced by developers and consumers of the Google Play Store, alleging inflated app prices resulting from Google’s alleged anticompetitive conduct. The proceedings are being case managed concurrently with an equivalent class action against Apple.
Airbnb
Acting as key disputes and regulatory risk adviser to Airbnb in Australia on a range of contentious matters, including defending an ACCC prosecution in the Federal Court relating to alleged misleading representations in currency display advertising.
Google (ACCC Location History and Cookie Data prosecutions)
Acted for Google in the defence of two Federal Court consumer law proceedings brought by the ACCC. The first related to the adequacy of Google’s disclosures about the collection and use of location data; the second to an alleged misleading disclosure relating to consent to combine cookie data with personal information. The first matter settled on favourable terms and the second resulted in the ACCC’s proceedings being dismissed with costs.
PayPal
Acted for PayPal over many years on a range of contentious matters, including urgent applications for injunctive relief. Most recently, advised PayPal’s Australian and US teams on the termination of one of its largest global merchant relationships.
Dr Clark
Acted for an IVF practitioner in long-running litigation that proceeded to a full hearing in the High Court of Australia, resulting in a completely successful outcome. The High Court’s decision in Clark v Macourt is a seminal judgment on the assessment of damages and mitigation principles.