Simone White’s name appeared in the headlines last November 2024 as the 28-year old British lawyer who died from methanol poisoning in Vang Vieng, Laos. Her family always joked that she’d feature in the news in some way but, tragically, it wasn’t in the way anyone had hoped.
Simone was so much more than a headline. Photos and videos only show technicolour memories of what it was like to know her; anecdotes that could make you belly-laugh or cringe in equal measure do not translate when they’re not told through the medium of voice note. If you had the privilege to have known her, you would have known she was fiercely loyal, always friendly, extremely competitive and not afraid to say it as it is.
Born in 1996, Simone always knew she wanted to become a lawyer. From an early age, she was rather precocious and unafraid; family anecdotes include singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star aged 3 at a holiday talent show. Simone achieved a 2:1 in her LLB from Newcastle University after studying on exchange in Groningen in the Netherlands and obtaining a training contract offer from US law firm, Squire Patton Boggs. Before and during her training contract, Simone went on client secondments and experienced a variety of practice areas, but she always knew that Commercial/IP&T was her calling. It is testament to her character that she became friends with and remained in contact with her colleagues from all three clients and practice groups.
Aside from being a brilliant lawyer, Simone was someone who always took the time to listen, appointed herself as social secretary of our trainee cohort, and was generous in all aspects. Generous to the point that she once lent me her (unused) contact lenses to ensure I played in an important league match for the firm’s women’s football team, which she of course helped set up. Her prescription was much weaker than mine and I still couldn’t see that well, but it was better than broken glasses or forfeiting the game!
Simone was always the first to volunteer for charity and social mobility initiatives at our law firm - and the last to leave the dance floor, whether it was casual work drinks or the infamous techno night out on our trainee holidays.
My last memory of Simone was a happy one: celebrating her 28th birthday with some football and drinks with the Squire Patton Boggs football team before we all wished her a safe trip to Cambodia and Laos, naively planning roast dinner and yoga classes upon her return.
We had no idea that her ‘best holiday ever’ (one of her last texts to her mum) would end in tragedy and loss. After meeting two of her best friends in Laos for a backpacking holiday, Simone and many others were poisoned by methanol-laced drinks. Days later, Simone and five other tourists died from the consequences, while others were injured and hospitalised, which resulted in at least one person becoming blind.
While media organisations raced to cover a story that resounded around the world, her family and friends were left devastated by a tragedy that cut short the story of a 28-year old who lived life to the fullest.
In Simone’s memory - and her tenacious spirit - her best friend, Bethany Clarke, who was also hospitalised from methanol poisoning, set up the methanol awareness campaign to prevent more people from dying of methanol poisoning. The campaign, through a Change.org petition, aims to raise awareness of the risks of methanol poisoning by: updating the school curriculum to educate young people before they start drinking and travelling, introducing airport safety reforms including signage, leaflet and information points, and adding warnings in airline in-flight magazines and other touch points.
While our campaign has successfully updated the RSHE curriculum in England and Wales, we are still waiting for curriculum updates in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Similarly, the UK’s Foreign Office has updated its ‘Travel Aware’ webpages to warn of methanol poisoning in more countries, but the advice provided still needs to go further. For example, checking if a bottle of alcohol is sealed or consuming alcohol on or from licensed premises is not a guarantee of safety. We - and the Foreign Office - know of other methanol poisoning cases that fly in the face of the official government advice.
Since volunteering and supporting the methanol awareness campaign, we have been contacted by friends and family of other victims, as well as survivors, of methanol poisoning. In December 2024, British-South African couple, Greta Otteson and Arno Quinton, died in Hoi An, Vietnam, after being gifted and drinking a Christmas present of homemade limoncello. In 2025 alone, we have seen incidents of mass methanol poisoning in Turkey in January, Jordan in July and Brazil in October.
We hope that national governments will eventually realise that these deaths are preventable. Methanol poisoning is a serious public health issue which legislation, education and international cooperation could resolve. We will continue to campaign for more education and do our best to raise awareness of the risks of methanol poisoning, but we can’t do it alone.
Simone was one person who meant so much to so many. I hope that our methanol awareness campaign can save the lives of many more.
Hannah-Mei Grisley is a data privacy solicitor
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