Simon Goacher
Simon joined Weightmans in February 2013 to head up the Local Government team. Prior to joining Weightmans Simon enjoyed a long and distinguished career in local government law spanning almost two decades. In 2009, he was appointed Head of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer of the newly created Cheshire West and Chester Council. This involved the creation of a single authority from four councils and the development. At Weightmans Simon is a go-to adviser for local authorities throughout the country on significant governance and vires issues throughout the country including carrying out independent reviews on sensitive and high profile issues. He is a leading practitioner on member conduct and has carried out a number of significant investigations on behalf of local authorities into the behaviour of elected members. He is also a leading expert on local authority constitutions and has led a number of projects to review and rewrite local authorities constitutions. He is recognised as a leader in the field on the role of the local authority monitoring officer having co-authored the Handbook for Monitoring Officers published with LLG (Lawyers in Local Government) · Weightmans LLP
About
Simon is Head of the Local Government team at Weightmans LLP (joined February 2013) with almost two decades of prior local government law experience, including serving as Head of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer for Cheshire West and Chester Council (appointed 2009). He advises local authorities on governance and vires issues, conducts independent and high-profile member conduct investigations, leads constitutional review projects, and co‑authored the Handbook for Monitoring Officers (LLG).