Simon was admitted as a solicitor in 1966 and for the whole of his English legal career practiced at W.H. Thompson, the foremost trade union law firm. He made an enormous contribution to the rights of workers worldwide by developing a legal action for coalminers to compensate for lung diseases suffered underground and not diagnosed until decades later. He was the firm’s managing partner in the 1980s. Ten years after I finished my work for Thompson’s, Simon migrated to the USA and married his second wife, Nicole Schultheis and they established the law firm of Schultheis & Walton, P.A., where they specialized in litigation for the disadvantaged and disabled. For many years, after the events of 9-11, Simon championed the “Trial Lawyers Care” programme, encouraging Maryland lawyers to join their colleagues from around the country in representing the victims and families affected by the attacks. His was a leading role in what became the biggest pro bono representation project in American history.
In Maryland, nationally, and internationally, he spearheaded the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, where I served as the public interest law firm’s first clerk, advancing the public interest and helping the poor and powerless. Simon was also an expert on French wine and single malt whisky, and could entertain friends with knowledge, wit, and repartee. He embraced the life and works of Robert Burns, founding the Baltimore chapter of the International Burns Society and hosting the annual Burns Night Supper. Simon’s life epitomizes Robert Burns’ sentiment that “… Man to Man, the world o’er,/ Shall brothers be for a’ that.” Simon Walton will be missed by the legal community around the world, and by everyone at the ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. Law Shop in Herndon.