Brian Simms

Brian Simms is the senior partner and head of the Litigation, Insolvency and Restructuring Group of Lennox Paton in Nassau, The Bahamas. He has vast experience in the courts of the Bahamas at first instance and the court of appeal, and he occasionally appears in the Privy Council. Additionally, he was recently an acting judge in the Bahamas Supreme Court. Mr. Simms is consistently ranked as top-tier litigator in trust disputes and insolvency cases. He has for the past several years been extensively in- volved in the Baha Mar receivership representing both the Export Import Bank of China as mortgagee and the appointed receivers. The matter resulted in a number of groundbreaking decisions in the Baha- mas, including refusing the recognition of chapter 11 in the Bahamas and consideration of the foreign- appointed representatives under the recent 2012 Bahamian legislation, which is being discussed by the panel. He also recently appeared in the Sir Anthony O'Reilly bankruptcy case, in which the judge emphasized the need for modern personal bankruptcy laws in the Bahamas. Mr. Simms is often engaged as an expert witness and is presently acting in that capacity as an expert witness of Bahamian law in Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., et al. v Citibank NA, et al. litigation in a U.S. bankruptcy court. He also regularly speaks at conferences and presents papers. Mr. Simms is a member of the Bahamian Bar and a former chairman of the Bar and Bench Committee, as well as a member of the Bahamian Bar Council. He is also an overseas member of the English Chancery Bar, a member of INSOL and an Honorary Fel- low of the Institute for International Legal Studies. He has also served on the Bahamas Constitutional Review Commission. Mr. Simms received his undergraduate and law degrees from McGill University and Exeter University.