Gideon is a Partner and the Head of Simkins’ reputation protection team. He is a highly regarded lawyer specialising in reputation protection for high-profile individuals and companies. He has extensive expertise in the areas of defamation, privacy, harassment, and copyright.
Gideon is ranked in Band 1 for both Chambers UK and Chambers UK High Net Worth; is in Legal 500’s Reputation Management Hall of Fame and ranked as a Top Flight lawyer in Spear’s 500.
He represents many of the world’s leading companies from a variety of sectors including financial services, energy, tech, food and drink, and television.
Gideon led the team that acted for Sir Cliff Richard in his ground-breaking privacy case against the BBC, which was named “Case of the Year” by Spears Wealth. Gideon has represented many high-profile individual and corporate clients including JK Rowling, Naomi Campbell, Roman Polanski, Las Vegas Sands Corp, Gordon Ramsay, and The Law Society.
Gideon sat on The Law Society’s Reference Groups for Libel Reform and Privacy, was on the Civil Justice Council’s Working Party on the draft Defamation Bill, has given evidence to the Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions, and has overseen the provision of evidence to the Leveson Inquiry and to several Parliamentary Committees. He has also spoken at the Cambridge and Durham Unions on the issue of reputation protection and the press. He presently sits on the Law Society’s Working Group regarding SLAPPs and is the inaugural Chairperson of the Society of Media Lawyers.
Gideon received the prestigious award for “Partner of the Year” at the 2008 Lawyer Awards, was named The Times’ “Lawyer of the Week” in August 2018, and made it into The Lawyer’s Hot 100 list in 2019. In 2023 he was awarded “Lawyer of the Year (Reputation)” at the Spears Wealth Awards.
If you have a reputation protection issue that requires urgent, out-of-hours advice, please call +44 20 7874 5757.
Simkins have an excellent media practice constantly evolving with the changes in our industry.
They take a sensible pragmatic approach to a contentious situation. Their legal analysis of the issue is good and they provide a number of options to me as the client as to how to move forward.
They demonstrate commercial and industry knowledge while being a fast and effective team.
Clients say Gideon "…has great judgement and enormous experience in the field. He's really responsive, quick and user-friendly."
Gideon has a strong intellect, is easy to talk to and gives clear advice.
Gideon is a very commercially minded litigator.
Gideon is very good at translating the legal aspects into what actually matters.
…the "outstanding" Gideon Benaim
Gideon gives sound counsel and is not afraid to say what he thinks is the best advice, regardless of whether this is what the client thinks they want to hear.
Gideon is "…incredibly patient in describing what he thinks is the optimal strategy and he's always right."
Clients appreciate Gideon's "measured and accurate advice."
Gideon Benaim "makes an effort to engage with you as an individual as well as a client, which goes a long way to work the client engagement process"
The "very calm and knowledgeable" Gideon Benaim is a highly esteemed reputation management expert.
Gideon is "the kind of guy you want in a crisis."
