Simon is a partner in the Cornwall Commercial Property team in Truro and the sector head for Mining and Minerals.

Simon qualified as a solicitor in September 1998 after gaining a Master’s degree in European law at the University of Exeter and joined Stephens Scown in August 2007.

Simon has extensive experience in the minerals sector, having previously worked as the in-house UK lawyer for a major global industrial minerals company. He works with both mineral operators and landowners on legal issues across the whole life of mines.

His work includes:

• Helping an aggregates producer with the drafting and negotiation of long-term supply agreements for the supply of secondary aggregates
• Drafting and negotiating mineral options and leases
• Assisting a minerals company purchase an extensive area of freehold mineral rights from a landed estate
• Acting for a minerals company on the sale of disused china clay works to a government housing agency for residential development
• Conducting due diligence on mineral rights and property holdings for AIM listings of mineral companies.

He also deals with general commercial property matters and is experienced in the woodland sector, dealing with the sale and purchase of forestry land for both investment and amenity purposes.

In his spare time, Simon loves cricket, walking the coast path and body boarding.