W. Scott Simon, J.D., CFP®, AIFA®

W. Scott Simon is a Bates Consulting and Testifying Expert on fiduciary investment issues in litigation and arbitrations, providing services including pre-litigation case evaluation, assistance with litigation support work and trial preparation, advice regarding legal arguments as well as deposition and trial testimony. His areas of expertise include modern prudent fiduciary investing including standards of fiduciary investment conduct, principles of investing and violations of fiduciary duties. Mr. Simon is an expert on the Uniform Prudent Investor Act (UPIA) and the Restatement (Third) of Trusts. In 2012, he was the recipient of the Tamar Frankel Fiduciary of the Year Award for his many “contributions to advancing the vital role of the fiduciary standard to investors, capital markets and to society.”

Since 2004, Mr. Simon has been a principal at Prudent Investor Advisors, an SEC-regulated registered investment advisory firm. His firm serves as a discretionary investment fiduciary to its ERISA and non-ERISA retirement plan clients. His work runs the gamut from authorships, speeches, and expert witness and consulting work concerning fiduciary investment issues to individually counseling participants in retirement plans. In addition, Mr. Simon has served as a trustee for private family trusts.

Mr. Simon is a member of the State Bar of California, a Certified Financial Planner® and an ACCREDITED INVESTMENT FIDUCIARY ANALYST™ (AIFA®). His certification as an AIFA® qualifies him to conduct independent fiduciary assessments that determine whether fiduciaries and investment professionals are in compliance with the standards of modern prudent fiduciary investing. Mr. Simon’s credentials, as well as his investment expertise and legal knowledge, give him a unique perspective shared by few.

Mr. Simon is the author of two books. Index Mutual Funds: Profiting from an Investment Revolution (1998), with a foreword by John C. Bogle, founder and former Chairman of the Vanguard Group, is an interpretive work on modern prudent fiduciary investing. His other book, The Prudent Investor Act: A Guide to Understanding (2002), has been praised by Harry C. Markowitz (Nobel laureate in Economics and the father of Modern Portfolio Theory), John C. Bogle (Founder and former Chairman, the Vanguard Group), Edward C. Halbach, Jr. (Reporter, The Restatement (Third) of Trusts and the Walter Perry Johnson Professor of Law Emeritus,  Boalt Hall, University of California Law School) and Fred Reish (Charter Fellow, American College of Employer Benefits, Drinker Biddle and Reath LLP). Additionally, Mr. Simon has written the monthly “Fiduciary Focus” column for Morningstar on fiduciary investment issues since 2003.

Mr. Simon graduated from UCLA with departmental honors in political science and earned his law degree from Southwestern University School of Law prior to being awarded a Rotary Foundation post‐graduate law fellowship. In addition to his membership in the State Bar of California, he is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, Central District of California as well as the U.S. Tax Court. Mr. Simon practiced business, corporate, tax and real estate law prior to entering the investment profession. He is enrolled in Level II of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program.