Partner and senior counsel
Simon Bruce was recently appointed as the first senior counsel at London-based family law firm Dawson Cornwell. He has handled several high-profile cases over his 40-year career, but I want to start with his pro bono work. ‘I work for four different pro bono agencies,’ he tells me. Simon volunteers at Dads House, Hammersmith and Fulham Law Centre, East Greenwich Legal Advice Clinic and LawWorks.
‘I have always wanted to give back to society,’ he says. ‘One of the central tenets in my life is that other people are always more important than yourself.’
A family law specialist, Simon enjoys helping people who cannot afford a solicitor. ‘Family is the basis of one’s life, the basis of society. When relationships go wrong, in particular where children are involved, then it is extremely important that parents have access to advisers to help them, to guide them.’
It is important ‘that we treat our pro bono clients with the maximum of care, respect and attention so that they can be assisted in whatever journey it is they have to go through to have fulfilled lives with their children’.
Simon’s father was a vicar. ‘My father is my absolute hero in my life. He was a very kind and humble person who always looked to help people. Something I have always held in my mind throughout my career is that I want to give back the solid gift of time to do this work. I’m enormously grateful for the opportunities I have had to do this.’
It is clear just how much Simon loves pro bono. ‘Working for nothing is much more liberating than working for money.’
On specialising in family, Simon mentions that he joined Farrer & Co as a trainee. ‘I had the privilege to work with some extraordinarily able people, including Dick Griffiths, who was one of the founders of Resolution, and Fiona Shackleton, who is a remarkable woman. It was a privilege to work closely with both of them. I learned a heck of a lot.’
Sir Matthew Farrer, the late Queen Elizabeth’s personal solicitor, wanted Simon to specialise in private client law, but he enjoyed the close relationships the firm had with family law clients and the immediacy of the work.
Simon loves the academic side of law and trying to advance the law, to make it better for people and more relevant. On that note, our conversation turns to a case that made headlines: Radmacher v Granatino. Here, the Supreme Court held that prenuptial agreements should be given decisive weight unless the agreement was unfair.
Simon, who represented Radmacher, was brought on to the case by Richard Todd KC, ‘a brilliant barrister from whom I have learned a lot about challenging the status quo’. He says it was a privilege to ‘be at the forefront of bringing English law up to date’.
As Dawson Cornwell’s first senior counsel, Simon sees the role ‘as an opportunity to continue to uphold the ethos of kindness, of service, of acute interest in all matters of family law’.
His career highlight? ‘My pro bono work is my living monument and embodiment of my ambitions as a lawyer.’ He has also loved seeing the team at Dads House grow. ‘You would not believe the number of talented people who have been attracted to our family law clinic to help others. The number of talented family lawyers who have given their time and brought kindness for the benefit of others. It makes me very happy to know that this will continue forever.’
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