Simon has worked and researched extensively in access to justice, human rights and anti-discrimination issues.

After a period in private commercial practice Simon worked at Redfern Legal Centre in Sydney and co-founded Macarthur Legal Centre. He was Director of Kingsford Legal Centre while director of clinical legal education programs at the University of NSW. He has been a board member of Macarthur Legal Centre, Redfern Legal Centre, Redfern Legal Centre Publishing, the Communications Law Centre, the Disability Discrimination Legal Centre, the Intellectual Disability Rights Centre, and the ACT Welfare Rights and Legal Centre.

He has been Director of the NSW Law and Justice Foundation, President of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, a Board member of the NSW Legal Aid Commission, and a consultant to the NSW Law Reform Commission.

Since 1996 he has been a part-time judicial member of the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal in the Equal Opportunity Division.  He is Chair of the Australian Capital Territory Law Reform Advisory Council.

Simon has practised extensively in poverty law in community legal centres, particularly anti-discrimination law, has trained and advised a wide range of businesses, agencies and NGOs, and has consulted to NGOs on organisational management and strategic planning.

Simon was a lecturer in the UNSW Law Faculty 1989-1995 where he was director of clinical programs, and taught at Sydney University Law Faculty in 2000 and 2001. He was a senior lecturer in the Division of Law at Macquarie University from 2005-2007.

He was awarded a Medal in the Order of Australia for legal services to the economically and socially disadvantaged, and has received a UNSW Alumni Award.  In 2008 Simon was an invitee to the Australian Government's 2020 Summit.

‘Discriminating for world peace’ in J Farrall and K Rubenstein (eds) Sanctions, Accountability and Governance in a Globalised World, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2009 (forthcoming)

‘Freedom’ reference in the Oxford Australian Law Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2009 (forthcoming)

Phillip Swain and Simon Rice (eds), In the Shadow of the Law: the Legal Context of Social Work Practice, (3rd ed) The Federation Press, Sydney, 2009

Neil Rees, Katherine Lindsay and Simon Rice, Australian Anti-Discrimination Law: Text, Cases and Materials, The Federation Press, Sydney, 2008

Simon Rice and Scott Calnan, Sustainable Advocacy: capabilities and attitudes of Australian human rights NGOs, Australian Human Rights Centre, Sydney, 2007

Gordon Renouf, Simon Rice and Roger West, Review of the NSW Community Legal Centres Funding Program: Final Report, Legal Aid Commission of NSW, Sydney, 2006

Nick O’Neill, Simon Rice and Roger Douglas, Retreat from Injustice: Human Rights Law in Australia, (2nd ed) The Federation Press, Sydney, 2004

Chair, ACT Law Reform Advisory Council

Judicial Member, NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal