The Haileybury Society is saddened to learn of the death of Simon Richard Kverndal, QC (B 71) who has died aged 62 on Sunday 14th June 2020.

Head of House, Deputy Head of School

At Haileybury, Simon was Head of House, Batten, Deputy Head of School, and a keen sportsman. He played rackets for the school and was captain, 1975-6; he was also Captain of the Tennis VI from 1974-6 and, when he moved up to Cambridge, played Real Tennis vs Oxford (1978-81; Capt. 1979-81). His love of racquet sports continued through his life, playing at national amateur level beyond 40.

Open Scholarship to Cambridge

Simon was awarded an Open Scholarship to read History at Sidney Sussex and changed to Law after two years. He was called to the bar in 1982 and was awarded the prestigious Astbury Scholarship. A Middle Temple Bencher, he had some 35 years’ experience as a shipping barrister and 16 years as a QC. Simon was a member of the leading international commercial law set Quadrant Chambers (formerly 4, Essex Court) and was to specialise in Maritime and Commercial Law, taking silk in March, 2002.

In his private life he was both a devoted family man as well as being active in a number of clubs including Hawks, Queens and the MCC. He was a long standing member of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights, joining its Court in 1999 and this year was proud to have become its Prime Warden, sadly dying before his term was over.

Tireless work on behalf of others

It is clear from reading his many obituaries that Simon was a popular and clubbable man who did a great deal of tireless work for others. He worked voluntarily on a number of different work committees in addition to supporting his local church. In recent years he also personally represented the people of Chiswick in contesting an inappropriate building development; a sense of his fairness and his passion can be found in this 2015 interview where he discusses the issues in question.

(Above: Simon in 2015 discussing the inappropriate developments planned in Chiswick)

Chambers obituary

Simon was also extremely knowledgeable about wine. As his chambers own obituary says,

“He was well-known for his real expertise in matters of wine. He had a blue (technically, a half-blue) for wine-tasting as well as real tennis. He served on the wine committees of the Garrick and the Shipwrights and of the Middle Temple, in essence yet another club, where he was a Bencher. Not many silks can point to articles in Decanter in their CVs.”

His chambers’ obituary also gives a flavour to the empathetic and embracing nature of his work as a team member and a valued colleague and mentor to those around him:

“He was a hardworking and popular silk. Having always been a diligent and hardworking advocate, he had blossomed in addition into a very effective arbitrator, renowned for his pleasantness and efficiency and, an unusual gift, for getting the right answer. Relatively recently he had started to act as mediator and his personal qualities were generating a rapidly growing and enthusiastic following. Simon had from the outset of his career been a member of Quadrant Chambers in its successive iterations. About a dozen strong when he joined, Chambers membership is now almost 70. Always approachable, always ready to help or advise, he was much-loved throughout Chambers, not merely by his contemporaries, but from senior silks to junior juniors and even pupils, as a flood of sorrowful emails and What’s App messages attests. For Simon, Quadrant was another club.”

Proud of his roots

(above: Simon (centre) enjoying a day at Haileybury in his earlier life, with Eleanor Rimmer and Charles Congdon (H 73))

Simon was proud of his Norwegian heritage and of the many friends he made – a talent he maintained throughout his life. His sister says that there is a Norwegian word which sums him up perfectly on account of his positive outlook and his resultant huge circle of friends: gledesspreder which literally translates as joy-spreader. One friend wrote “He was a man who made truly great friendships. A man who gave so much more than he received. A man who brought sunshine and laughter into so many lives.”

A full obituary of Simon appeared in The Times on 24th August 2020, which can be seen here

Above all, Simon was a devoted and loving family man who was dedicated to his wife, Sophie, and their two sons Thor and Finn, to whom the Haileybury Society sends its deepest condolences at this very difficult time.