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Simon Witney  Partner
+44 (0)20 7111 2271
simon.witney@sjberwin.com

Simon studied law at Oxford University and then obtained a masters degree from Leicester University before qualifying as a solicitor in 1994. He went on to complete an MBA at INSEAD, graduating with distinction in July 1995 and joined the private equity team at SJ Berwin in August 1995.

As a member of the private equity team, Simon has been involved in venture capital and development capital investments, management buyouts and general M&A work, as well as working on numerous private equity investment fund establishments and structurings. His practice is now focused on private equity fund formation and related advice, acting for the UK government on its Enterprise Capital Fund project as well as many leading European venture capital and buyout houses.

In January 2000 Simon was appointed as the firm's first Head of Knowledge Management and became a partner in May 2001. He is also the firm's Professional Service Partner, working with all parts of the firm to ensure that service delivery standards are consistently high.

Simon is heavily involved in lobbying national governments and the European Commission on issues related to private equity and corporate law, and has also led the BVCA's lobbying on the Companies Act as well as working with them on a number of other issues. Simon writes a weekly bulletin for clients commenting on legal and tax developments which affect the European private equity community, and is a regular speaker at conferences and contributes to a variety of publications.

In October 2006, Simon was named as one of the "30 most influential lawyers in global private equity" by the highly regarded industry journal Private Equity International, and, in January 2008, he was recognised as one of the Hot 100 lawyers by The Lawyer.