Lewis, Simon

Simon is a skilled corporate and commercial lawyer with experience leading transactional and advisory engagements with a focus on the government, financial services and defence sectors.

He has significant expertise in the development and negotiation of corporate transactions and commercial arrangements, having practised in this in leading private law firms in Australia and the UK. He also has advanced finance training.

Simon has experience advising Commonwealth agencies on governance and compliance matters in procurement and program contexts. He has been trusted to undertake independent reviews into organisational governance on several occasions, in some cases in highly sensitive areas.

Relevant experience

Examples of Simon’s relevant experience include:

• Governance – advising various public and private sector boards on governance matters, including reporting, conflicts, indemnification and insurance issues.
• Investment – advising the Treasury and the Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation on the establishment of the Cyclone Reinsurance Scheme, requiring consideration of legislative amendments and market-facing agreements.
• Investment – advising the Treasury on the development of the SME loan guarantee scheme and subsequent ‘Show Starter’ loan guarantee scheme, part of the Commonwealth response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Infrastructure – advising the Department of Industry, Science and Resources on financial underwriting arrangements for the VNI-West and Energy Connect electricity transmission projects to facilitate the Snowy 2.0 program.
• Infrastructure – advising the Department of Infrastructure on the administration of the $2bn Commonwealth subordinated loan in support of the Westconnex project.
• Procurement – advising Defence on legal, probity and process issues in various materiel and services procurements, requiring application of procurement policies and preparation of tender documents using both ASDEFCON template suite.
• ICT Procurement – advising Defence on acquiring software and services using DTA and other whole-of-Commonwealth panels and negotiated arrangements.
• Investigations – appointed by the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force to advise on several inquiries into possible breaches of military justice.
• Organisational reviews – appointed to conduct independent reviews of the structure of several significant Commonwealth internal legal departments.

Qualifications

Masters of Laws, University of Sydney

Bachelor of Laws, University of New South Wales

Bachelor of Commerce, University of New South Wales

Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice, Griffith University

Completed levels I-III of the Charted Financial Analyst (CFA) Program