By Frederick N. Rasmussen , fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com|November 23, 2008
Simon Kenneth Walton, a noted Baltimore lawyer who specialized in litigation for the disadvantaged and disabled, died Thursday of colon cancer at Sinai Hospital. The Northwood resident was 66.
Mr. Walton was born in Market Harborough, England, and raised in Coventry, England.
He studied law at University College, London, England, and was admitted as a solicitor in England in 1966, and for the entirety of his English legal career practiced at W.H. Thompson, the foremost trade union law firm, where be became a managing partner in the 1980s.
"There Simon made an enormous contribution to the rights of workers worldwide by developing a legal action for coal miners to be compensated for lung diseases suffered underground and not diagnosed until years later," said his wife of 14 years, Nicole Schultheis, a Baltimore trial lawyer.
It was while attending a trial lawyers' conference in Toronto in the early 1990s that Mr. Walton became acquainted with his second wife.
"We were attending a banquet and seated at small tables of four. Someone said, 'Oh, there's Simon, and he likes wine, and we know that you like wine,' so I was placed next to him," Ms. Schultheis said.
"That's how it happened. He moved to Baltimore, passed the Maryland Bar, and we married in 1994," she said.
Mr. Walton and his wife established the law firm of Schultheis & Walton P.A., which specialized in representing clients harmed by defective drugs or medical devices.
"He also concentrated his litigation in the public interest and on behalf of the disabled," Ms. Schultheis said.
"His skills as an advocate and his kindnesses toward those in need of representation in difficult and complex cases brought him admiration from the bench and bar," she said. "He had a big heart and a strong heart."
Andrew D. Levy, a Baltimore attorney, is a longtime friend.
"He was a believer. Plaintiffs' lawyers are so often portrayed as doing what they do simply for the money, but not Simon," Mr. Levy said. "He truly believed in victims' rights. These are the victims who have been left standing because their rights had been violated."
Stephen J. Cullen, an attorney with Miles & Stockbridge in Towson, is also a longtime friend.
"Simon was such a decent human being, and when he came here immediately gained the respect of both the bench and the bar," Mr. Cullen said. "He was a lawyer who wanted to help those who couldn't help themselves. He was absolutely committed to the underprivileged and the poor and those who couldn't afford legal representation."
