Expert resume of Simon Firth

Partner at Linklaters LLP London; P.R.I.M.E. Finance Expert

Simon Firth is one of the leading authorities on the law of derivatives. He is the author of Firth on Derivatives Law and Practice (Sweet and Maxwell), which is frequently cited in the courts and has been followed in several important derivatives cases. He has extensive experience in advising about the interpretation of the ISDA Master Agreement and other standard form documentation and many of his opinions have been relied on by the market generally. He joined Linklaters in 1987 and has been a partner since 1996.

Since 2008, he has been the principal legal adviser to the English administrators of the Lehman Brothers companies on their derivatives, repo and stock lending positions. Throughout this period, he has advised extensively about the correct interpretation of the close-out and valuation provisions of the ISDA Master Agreement and has been responsible for reviewing and commenting on the methodologies used by counterparties to determine the settlement amounts payable under that Agreement. He acted for the administrators in Lomas v JFB Firth Rixson, Inc [2012] 2 All ER (Comm) 1067, which is now the leading case on the ISDA Master Agreement, and in Re Lehman Brothers International (Europe (No.6) [2014] 2 BCLC 451, which established a number of important principles regarding the interpretation of the close-out provisions. In Lehman Brothers Finance SA v Sal Oppenheim Jr & Cie KGAA [2014] EWHC 2627, his views on various other aspects of these provisions were cited with approval by the High Court.

The other areas of his practice include credit derivatives, equity derivatives and regulatory capital structuring work (both transactional and advisory). Her also advises about the regulation of financial institutions.

He is a member of the Financial Markets Law Committee, an independent committee of legal experts which is responsible for identifying issues of legal uncertainty in the wholesale financial markets. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Law. In 2013, he was ranked by Chambers & Partners as the leading capital markets lawyer in the UK and one of the ten leading UK business lawyers.