Simon Kilgour

Simon Kilgour represents reinsurers in high-stakes, complex claims and navigates non-standard coverage disputes and market challenges. Over his impressive 30-year career, he has litigated and arbitrated numerous high-profile market disputes, many involving tens to hundreds of millions of pounds. His cases often have an international element, involving global reinsurance markets. Clients value his deep knowledge of insurance law and his strategic, measured approach to dispute resolution.

In addition to his litigation experience, Simon regularly advises reinsurers, brokers, and corporate insureds on a wide variety of non-contentious insurance matters. He supports clients across numerous lines of business, including casualty, contingency, life, credit, and specialty insurance, as well as in insurance due diligence for mergers and acquisitions.

Simon is also recognized as a leading innovator in the reinsurance space. He is the creator of ReWord, an award-winning reinsurance clause database used by more than 25 reinsurers and brokers worldwide. He also helped develop Contract Quality, an automated contract review tool that won him the British Legal Award for Innovation in 2015.

Simon earned his law degree from St Anne’s College, Oxford University, graduating with a 2:1 in Jurisprudence.

Simon's Practice

Representative Matters

• Lloyd’s litigation, defending members and managing agents including at trial over the conduct of LMX and long-tail reinsurance underwriting.
• Unicover and PA Workers Comp spirals, led a team defending a North American reinsurer’s interests with this major market problem involving multiple litigations and arbitrations internationally over several years.
• Advising various clients in connection with reinsurance issues arising from the Covid pandemic and the Russian aviation leasing litigations in England, Ireland and the US.
• International D&F claims, regular appointments in connection with large risk losses worldwide and involving power, processing, manufacturing, transportation, hotel and leisure, marine and aviation risks.
• Natural catastrophes, frequent advice to (re)insurers in connection with major market losses including Caribbean and US Hurricanes, Typhoons, New Zealand Earthquakes, Australian and Thai floods, North American wildfires.
• Credit Insurance, advice to corporates, banks and insurers. Shortlisted for Insurance Transaction of the Year 2019.
• Life (re)insurance and specialty lines including casualty, contingency, jewellers’ block.
• ReWord, designed award winning reinsurance clause database used by over 25 reinsurers and brokers worldwide.
• Contract Quality for reinsurance, in collaboration with Adsensa, designed automated checks for reinsurance contract wordings and winning as a result the British Legal Award for Law Firm Innovation in 2015.