Simon Kilgour

Practice Areas

Simon Kilgour is a partner in our Insurance Team and acts for (re)insurers on complex, high value claims and non-standard coverage disputes or market issues. His work is mainly international. Simon was ranked as a leading lawyer in Insurance Law by SuperLawyers 2013. He is also ranked in the leading independent legal directories and named as one of the leading reinsurance lawyers in Europe.

Simon is an experienced contentious lawyer having litigated and arbitrated a large number of major market disputes over the last 25 years. The majority of these cases have concerned coverage disputes or the conduct of underwriting with values measured in the tens or hundreds of millions of US$. The majority of his cases have an international element and he is experienced as a dispute resolution lawyer.

As a non-contentious lawyer Simon focusses on supporting CMS’ (re)insurer, broker and corporate insured clients in relation to a variety of matters and classes of business.

Simon is a leading innovator of online services to (re)insurers. He is the architect of the CMS reinsurance clause database, ReWord, which won the British Insurance Award for Technology in 2008. He also collaborated with the software company, Adsensa, to create an automated contract review service known as Contract Quality which won the Insurance Initiative of the Year award in 2014 and the British Legal Award for Innovation in 2015.

Professional Memberships

BILA

Rye & Woburn G.C.

Work Highlights

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.

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 and Covid19.

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.

Insurance due diligence for M&A.

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.

Education