Simon Barrett
London-born and a graduate of Bristol University, Simon enjoyed a brief career in the oil industry before studying law, again in Bristol. He joined a Bristol firm and was admitted as a solicitor on April Fool's Day 1980 with distinctions in commercial and accountancy law. He came to Reading in 1979 and set up a new branch office, before going into partnership with a Reading solicitor in 1981, forming the firm which is now known as Barrett & Co.
Simon spent his early years as a solicitor specialising in property law but in more recent years has increasingly concentrated on commercial law. His main areas of interest are in company/partnership formations, shareholder agreements, business acquisitions and sales, commercial property, commercial and construction contracts and disputes.
He is the chairman of the trustees of the Reading & District Hospitals Charity, the major independent charity supporting Reading's hospitals. He has substantial property interests both in the UK and overseas, and has been the chairman of several property investment companies over the years, looking after the interests of many shareholder investors. A keen skier, and chairman of his local cricket club, he has also cycled through Ecuador, Cambodia, Vietnam & Peru raising more than £100,000 in the process for Macmillan.