Simon Ross

CC&P

Practice Summary

Simon was employed as a solicitor by Beachcroft LLP (now DAC Beachcroft LLP) for six years prior to joining chambers in 2004.

As a solicitor he specialised in professional negligence and commercial litigation and gained considerable experience handling a caseload of solicitor and surveyor negligence claims.

He frequently advises and drafts pleadings on a broad range of contractual, commercial and professional negligence claims.

Simon has an interest in insolvency work and has advised on a variety of aspects of insolvency law.

Simon is knowledgeable about costs and has represented solicitors at a number of detailed assessment hearings.

Areas of Expertise

• Commercial litigation
• Professional negligence
• Contractual disputes
• Insolvency
• Costs

Notable Cases

• Acted for a defendant firm of planning consultants in defence of a claim of alleged negligence in the preparation of scaled drawings and applications submitted for planning permission
• Acted for a defendant firm of solicitors seeking a general (rather than limited or extended) civil restraint order against a prolific litigant in person
• Successfully defended a pre-action disclosure application in a complex dispute between a business and a tax planning consultancy firm that had advised on a restructuring scheme using a Limited Liability Partnership model to enable cash extraction of circa £4 million in a tax efficient manner. Case involved complex procedural issues in the application coupled with complicated underlying issues of corporate identity, confidentiality agreements and intellectual property rights.
• Acted in a dispute between the landlord and tenant of commercial premises where there had been alleged breaches of covenants regarding utilities payments spanning a number of years
• Regularly acts on behalf of property developers in claims to recover damages for loss of bargain and consequential losses against investors who have failed to complete on property purchases. Successfully recovered varying awards of damages including one judgment of £120,000.
• Advised a claimant in respect of a potential professional negligence claim against solicitors who had previously conducted a claim in which it was alleged that Toxic Encephalopathy, Myelin damage, Multiple Sensory Sensitivity and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity had been suffered following exposure to toxins at work. A document heavy claim with complex medical issues that filled 16 lever arch files.
• Advised a claimant in respect of a potential professional negligence claim against a firm of solicitors who allegedly settled a Fibromyalgia claim at an undervalue and/or failed to instruct appropriate experts. There were complicating factors concerning causation and diagnosis of the underlying condition.
• Advised a claimant in respect of a potential professional negligence claim against solicitors who had conducted a clinical negligence claim. The underlying claim concerned ante-natal care provided to a child that was subsequently born with Goldenhar Syndrome and/or advice given regarding termination of the pregnancy. Complex issues of limitation arose together with issues of potential liability for wrongful birth.

Personal Information

Simon spends most of his limited leisure time enjoying the challenges of looking after his energetic young daughter and entertaining younger son. When not involved with family pursuits, he goes running and continues to strive to improve upon his best time for completing a 10km race; his current PB is 47.41 minutes.