Simon Daniels qualified as a lawyer in 1984. Since then, he has 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. While at Solent, he was involved in a consultancy capacity with specialist advice in a number of criminal cases, including the trial of a Watchkeeper for manslaughter and a jet ski rider under s58 Merchant Shipping Act 1995. In 2012, Simon was awarded a PhD for his thesis: The Criminalisation of the Ship's Master. In 2014, he briefed an international conference hosted by Eurocontrol and the Dutch Government on criminal negligence in matters arising out of the MH17 incident. He has published several academic papers and, in 2016, wrote a book on Corporate Manslaughter in the Maritime and Aviation Industries. More recently, he has written a number of books on criminalisation and risk management in merchant shipping, all published by Routledge, and leads courses in criminalisation for the Nautical Institute.