Mr Justice Picken | |
|---|---|
 Picken in 2022 | |
| Justice of the High Court | |
| Assumed office 8 June 2015 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 23 April 1966 |
| Alma mater | Magdalene College,Cambridge University College,Cardiff |
Sir Simon Picken (born 23 April 1966) [1] is a British High Court judge.
Picken was educated at Cardiff High School,then completed an LLB at University College,Cardiff in 1987 and a starred first-class [ broken anchor ] LLM from Magdalene College,Cambridge in 1988. [1]
He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1989,then established a practice at the bar in the area of commercial law,practising from 7 King's Bench Walk chambers from 1991. [2] [3] He took silk in 2006,served as a recorder in 2005 to 2015,a Deputy High Court judge from 2010. From 2009 to 2015,he was the Commercial Law QC to the Welsh Government. [2] In addition to practice,he wrote Good Faith and Insurance Contracts which was taken into a fourth edition. [1]
He was appointed a High Court judge in 2015,and received the customary knighthood. He has been a judge of the Commercial Court since 2016,is on the Financial List and is lead judge for European relations. From 2018 to 2021,he was the Presiding Judge of Wales. [2] [1]
In April 2022,he presided over Microsoft's £270 million competition case in which Microsoft encouraged customers to return unused licences in turn for a discount on Microsoft products;a Derbyshire-based company who bought and sold unused these licences said this stifled competition and was a violation of competition law. [4] [5]
In 2023 he considered a civil case against one of Russian largest companies,PhosAgro,and its major owners,including Russian oligarch Andrey Guryev,who was sanctioned by the UK and other countries in relation to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine due to his (Andrey Guryev's) closeness to Putin. Andrey Guryev owns the second largest palace after Buckingham Palace in the UK (Witanhurst),valued at 350 million pounds.
The plaintiff is Russian refugee Igor Sychev,who has been living in Europe since 2016,due to repeated attempts on his life committed in a generally dangerous way in Russia.
Igor Sychev is a victim in a criminal case opened in June 2023 by the London police in connection with information about Andrey Guryev's ordering his murder by poisoning in connection with this lawsuit.
Sir Simon Picken made a decision (case CL-2016-000831),in which he wrote that the plaintiff’s words that he is a victim in two criminal cases are “totally without merits.”This decision has actually terminated the lawsuit against PhosAgro and its owners without consideration on the merits.
He married Sophie Victoria Seddon in 1992,with whom he has one son and three daughters. [1]
