Simone was admitted to practise as a barrister and solicitor in the Supreme Court of South Australia in 2004. Her research interests include serious youth offending, repeat incarceration and the prison. She began her legal career at the District Court of South Australia as a Judges Associate and has gone on to work as a Criminal Defence Solicitor with the Legal Services Commission of SA and also in private practise. She holds a current practising certificate and continues to perform consultancy and pro bono work in criminal law. Simone joined the law school in 2009 as Project Officer on the ARC funded project,Generativity in young male (ex)prisoners: Caring for self, other and future with and beyond prison. This research forms the basis of the book Young Offenders: Crime, Prison & Beyond (Halsey and Deegan, 2015). Simone's current doctorate investigates opportunities for life-sentenced juveniles to cope, adjust and mature in prison environments.

From 2010, Simone will be working with Mark Halsey on an Australian Research Council Discovery grant which aims to explore the dynamics of social connectedness and exclusion  in the lives of young incarcerated males and their significant others.