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Portrait ofSimon Kilgour

Simon Kilgour

Partner

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
Cannon Place
78 Cannon Street
London
EC4N 6AF
United Kingdom
Languages English, French

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.

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"a deep understanding of reinsurance workings"

Chambers, 2015

"very good, very smart and a very good public speaker"

Chambers UK, 2013

"Listed as a leading individual in Insurance and Reinsurance Litigation"

Legal 500, 2012

Relevant experience

  • 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.
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Memberships & Roles

  • BILA
  • Rye & Woburn G.C.
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Education

  • Jurisprudence 2:1 St Anne’s College, Oxford University
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Feed

17/04/2023
Proximate Cause: World War II?
In a recent decision, the English Courts concluded that damage cause by a controlled detonation of a World War II bomb fell within the War Risks exclusion of an insurance policy issued 80 years later...
02/09/2021
CMS advises NewRiver on sale of Hawthorn Leisure to Admiral Taverns
International law firm CMS has advised NewRiver REIT plc (NewRiver), a London Stock Exchange-listed real estate investment trust, on its sale of the entire issued share capital of Hawthorn Leisure REIT...
24/02/2021
The FCA Test Case: Video Series
The Supreme Court delivered its keenly-an­ti­cip­ated judgment in the FCA’s Test Case on non-damage business interruption (BI) cover for losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic on 15 January 2021. The...
19/01/2021
Business Interruption Insurance and Covid-19: FCA’s expectations following...
On 17th June 2020, the FCA published finalised guidance setting out the regulator’s expectations in respect of their regulatory obligations (under FCA Principles, ICOBS and DISP) for Insurers and insurance...
18/01/2021
Business Interruption Insurance and Covid-19: FCA’s expectations following...
The Supreme Court delivered its keenly-an­ti­cip­ated judgment in the FCA’s Test Case on non-damage business interruption (BI) cover for losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic on 15 January 2021. The...
15/10/2020
Reinsurance: COVID-19 – where are we now?
At different stages in the COVID-19 pandemic, we have considered the impact on the reinsurance market. Most recently (see our Law-Now), we considered the likely implications of the “second wave”...
15/10/2020
Reinsurance: COVID-19 – where are we now?
Exposures Whilst many insurers and reinsurers scramble to impose pandemic exclusions for 1 January 2021 renewals, there nevertheless remain significant areas of cover that could still be impacted by the...
16/09/2020
FCA Update and Guidance following judgment in the Business Interruption...
The 162 page decision is indicative of the degree of complexity that the Judges found in analysing the BI wordings they were asked to consider – complexity which itself may be seen by many – including...
16/09/2020
FCA Update and Guidance following judgment in the Business Interruption...
The much-awaited decision in the FCA’s High Court test case in relation to non-damage business interruption (BI) insurance policies and their response to the COVID-19 pandemic was published yesterday...
07/07/2020
Reinsurance: COVID-19 – the second wave
Earlier in the pandemic, we examined emerging issues likely to be of interest to reinsureds and reinsurers (see our Law-Now). With the spread of the disease apparently easing in some jurisdictions but...
27/04/2020
COVID-19 Insurance Implications
The COVID-19 pandemic has extracted a terrible toll on human life and has caused sig­ni­fic­ant disruption to business and investment worldwide. The true economic impact of the pandemic remains to be determined...
06/04/2020
Reinsurance: COVID-19 claims
Correct as of 6 April 2020. This article is not being maintained. Following an initial series of direct claims by policyholders (which may or may not be covered), a wave of notifications is now reaching...