Simon Ridding

Practice Summary

Simon is a dedicated public, information and human rights law barrister whose practice is focused on: -

Data Protection, Information Law, Media, AI and Crypto receiving instructions in a variety of matters such as class action litigation, information rights tribunal work, FOI, commercial advice, data breach actions and cyber related commercial litigation. Simon also advises in relation to general commercial litigation matters for individuals and businesses.

Judicial Review, International Human Rights, Civil Liberties and Equality receiving instructions on a variety of public law matters in the High Court, mainly related to prisoners, those subject to immigration controls and the police. In addition to being instructed as junior on several high-profile matters involving British citizens detained abroad requiring submissions to the UN special rapporteurs.

Proceeds of Crime and is regularly instructed by the Home Office in POCA matters in the Magistrate and Crown Courts. His growing expertise is recognised by repeat instructions including on matters with values of up to £750,000 against King’s Counsel. Simon has been instructed on a many number of cases flowing from Operation Ventmack which was a Home Office initiative to detect and combat illegal working. Simon is also instructed by the Director of Border Revenue in relation to seizures by Border Force and the subsequent appeals.

Police and Public Authorities mainly civil actions against state entities for false imprisonment, trespass to person, breaches of data protection rights related to personal data retention to include multi-day jury trials.

Asylum and Immigration and appears in the First Tier and Upper Tribunal as sole counsel and in the Court of Appeal as junior counsel.

Regulatory and Discipline receiving instructions on behalf of both the regulator and registrant in Tribunal proceedings.

Tax matters receiving instructions from individuals in relation to VAT and Council Tax issues.

Inquests.

He joined Chambers in 2026 having been called to the Bar in 2024 and practicing from another Chambers. Previous to his career at the Bar, Simon practised as a class action solicitor where he represented claimants in numerous high-profile data protection group actions and developed privacy related representative actions against social media and surveillance companies.

Simon undertakes a variety of interim and final hearings including multi-day trials. He is regularly instructed to act as case presenter for a variety of regulatory bodies at disciplinary hearings in addition to receiving instructions from government departments in relation to proceeds of crime, civil penalty and immigration matters.

Simon is able to provide a very quick turnaround of advice/grounds, pleadings and general drafting should it be required. He is also willing to take on urgent matters after normal hours and at weekends.

Increasingly he is engaged on international human rights matters involving UN special procedures. He recently acted as junior counsel to Haydee Dijkstal in the case of a high-profile individual who was at risk of immediate extradition and torture. He also currently acts on behalf of a British citizen detained in Saudi Arabia without charge and is actively developing his international human rights and protection practices having appeared in the Court of Appeal led by Dr Chelvan on such matters.

Generally, Simon is extremely dedicated and hard-working, whether that be as a junior or as sole counsel. He is willing to go the extra mile for clients which is reflected in the multiple repeat instructions from those firms that engage him.

Simon was shortlisted for Young Barrister of the Year at the Bar Pro Bono Awards 2025. He is also currently studying for a LLM in International Law at the University of Liverpool.