Simon Daniels, Maritime Law Author & Solicitor in Southampton

Simon Daniels qualified as a Solicitor in 1985, since when he has particularly specialised in criminal and marine litigation, before developing a career in alternative dispute resolution as a Qualified Dispute Resolver.

He brought his professional background to the academic field at Solent University, where he managed the law and business parts of the MCA-accredited Merchant Vessel Operations programme at Warsash Maritime Academy, one of the world’s leading centres of excellence in training for merchant shipping professionals.

He has a particular concern with the worrying trend in the criminalisation of the Ship’s Master, which harnesses his professional career to my background in the maritime industry and, in 2012, was awarded a PhD for his thesis: The Criminalisation of the Ship’s Master. A new approach for the new millennium. In 2016, he wrote Corporate Manslaughter in the Maritime and Aviation Industries.

In August 2019 he left Solent University and established a new career in maritime research and consultancy. He still holds a practising certificate and has advised in a number of cases since then as Consultant Solicitor.

Simon has a close association with the Nautical Institute, where he is Principal Lecturer and manages the courses on the Criminalisation of the Mariner.

In 2022 he completed the world’s first major text book on the criminalisation of the ship’s master, Responsibility and Accountability in Maritime Law, published by Informa Law (Routledge). A direct link to the publisher can be found on this website.

In April 2024 he completed a major project for law and management training, when Routledge published his new book, Shipboard Management. This stands closely with his work in the latest edition of the Nautical Institute’s Shipmaster’s Business Self-Examiner, also published in April 2024.

At the beginning of 2025 CRC Press published Simon’s latest book, Just Culture And The Criminalisation Of Air Accidents, addressing issues in the civil aviation industry which share close associations with shipping, and bring the picture of criminalisation for both into sharp focus with the current issues for a Just Culture.