Simon Garbett

Partner

photo for Simon Garbett

What can I do for you

I am a dispute resolution lawyer and have been helping clients resolve their issues for over 25 years in the West Midlands, throughout the UK and internationally. I lead our commercial disputes team in Birmingham.

I regularly handle complex commercial litigation, arbitration and ADR (including mediation). My work includes a wide variety of advanced manufacturing and engineering disputes, commercial contract and supply chain problems, product quality and product liability issues, employment matters (breach of restrictive covenants and confidential information), financial services, insurance and negligence claims, as well as corporate disputes issues such as director, shareholder, warranty, partnership and fraud matters.

What do others say

'Simon always takes time to keep in touch and to be available. He is clearly well versed in the tactics of contentious matters, but always has an eye out for the commercial and pragmatic element of any dispute. A pleasure to work with and a genuinely good guy'.(Legal 500)

'Simon provides a great level of service'.

'Perfectly amenable and friendly, but at the same time able to give a hard-nosed, no-nonsense approach: he strikes that balance very well'. 

'Simon has the ability to see the big picture in a case'.

 Clients benefit from 'Simon’s good demeanour when dealing with opposing counsel, trying to work out issues amicably to get two sides talking to each other'. (Chambers UK)

Supporting your ambitions

Some of my proudest moments in the law have been when delivering highly creative and cost-effective solutions for our clients that meet their legal and commercial objectives, whilst preserving hard-won client assets and relationships. 

Then using our experience and judgement to continue to work together with those same clients to achieve even more, by taking those lessons-learned to deliver further practical and strategic risk advisory and risk mitigation advice.  Doing this has benefitted very many of our clients by us building long-lasting relationships with them and helping them to head off and minimise future issues before the legal horse has bolted.

What else should you know?

I am the sector lead for Automotive, which is a key part of the firm’s Technology practice led by Doug McDonald.   

I regularly act for vehicle and component manufacturers in a range of supply chain settings, and on legal and commercial issues for after-market and other suppliers, logistics companies, distributors and retailers. 

Beyond this, I have significant and wide-ranging experience in the food and drink, life sciences, manufacturing, retail and technology sectors. I also handle commercial disputes for property, health, hospitality, sports and leisure sector clients. 

Additional Information

I love nothing more than the total escapism achieved from slipping on some battered trainers and going for a run.  I also enjoy watching and playing football, golf and cricket.  And knowing the value of a good forward defensive or an attacking shot at the right time can also come in handy in the law too!

jigsaw

What our clients say about us

“I think Mills & Reeve are a wonderful firm. The support they have provided to us in a really difficult area has been brilliant, collaborative and commercially minded. The team were absolutely wonderful and a joy to work with. Amazing advice and support and a real collaborative effort with us. I can't thank them enough for getting us through some really tough times and doing so with an amazing can-do attitude.”

“They are friendly, fast, always available and always on top of the game. I tend to judge my legal team against the other side's legal team and never doubt Mills & Reeve is the better of the two.”

“All interactions have been very clear. Responses to questions have always been very swift and unambiguous. Our company, and my family, have used various services in Mills & Reeve with the same level of satisfaction.”

“I value the fact that Mills & Reeve are recognised as a good place to work in the UK Best Companies survey. This aligns with the values of our business and means that Mills & Reeve can share what is required to achieve this status with our business.”