Sir Simon Picken (born 23 April 1966) is a British High Court judge. Picken was educated at

Cardiff High School ) , established = 1895 (Creation of earliest of predecessor schools) , closed = , type = Public (magnet) secondary , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Stephen Jones , r ...

, then completed an

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

University College, Cardiff , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

in 1987 and a starred first-class

LLM A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mar ...

in 1988. He was called to the bar at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1989, then established a practice at the bar in the area of commercial law, practising from 7 King's Bench Walk chambers from 1991. He

took silk In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in 2006, served as a recorder in 2005 to 2015, a Deputy High Court judge from 2010. From 2009 to 2015, he was the Commercial Law QC to the

Welsh Government , image = , caption = , date_established = , country = Wales , address = , leader_title = First Minister () , appointed = First Minister approved by the Senedd, ceremonially appointed ...

. In addition to practice, he wrote ''Good Faith and Insurance Contracts'' which was taken into a fourth edition. He was appointed a High Court judge in 2015, and received the customary knighthood. He has been a judge of the

Commercial Court Commercial Court is a type of specialized court on commercial law. List of existing commercial courts * Commercial Court (Belgium) * Commercial Court (England and Wales) * Commercial Court (Victoria) The Commercial Court is a sub-division o ...

since 2016, is on the Financial List and is lead judge for European relations. From 2018 to 2021, he was the Presiding Judge of Wales. In April 2022, he presided over

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

's £270 million

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, ind ...

case in which Microsoft encouraged customers to return unused licences in turn for a discount on Microsoft products; a Derbyshire-based company who bought and sold unused these licences said this stifled competition and was a violation of competition law. He married Sophie Victoria Seddon in 1992, with whom he has one son and three daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Picken, Simon Living people 1966 births 21st-century English judges Knights Bachelor Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Alumni of Cardiff University Members of the Middle Temple People educated at Cardiff High School Queen's Bench Division judges Welsh King's Counsel 21st-century King's Counsel