Simons attended Harvard College, which was established in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States. He received a Bachelor of Arts there in 1969.
He then studied at Harvard Law School, founded in 1817 and the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United States. Its Juris Doctor program followed a three-year course of study, and Simons received the degree in 1972.
He worked as a partner of S. E. Giorno.
Professional profiles also connect him with Ropes & Gray, a Boston law firm founded in 1865 by John Codman Ropes and John Chipman Gray, both Harvard Law graduates. The firm developed bankruptcy and labor practices during the twentieth century and had nearly 75 attorneys by the 1960s. The profile associated with him lists corporate and incorporation practice from offices at One International Place in Boston.
He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1972 and to the Massachusetts bar in 1975.
