After reading law at Edinburgh University, I studied for the Law Society of England & Wales professional examinations at Bristol Polytechnic (now UWE Bristol) and qualified as a solicitor in 1973. I always worked for leading London firms, mainly in dispute resolution: litigation, arbitration and mediation, especially in the fields of commercial law, competition law, contentious trusts and probate, professional negligence, property, solicitors’ costs and compliance. My detailed CV is available upon request.
In 2015 I became a CEDR accredited mediator, following which I worked alongside some of the country's leading mediators as an observer/assistant mediator, prior to mediating a very wide range of disputes on my own. I am registered with, and a panel member of, the Civil Mediation Council (including the Fixed Fee Scheme). I am also a mediation member of Clerksroom, a member of the Society of Mediators, Unity Legal Solutions, The Mediator Network and Wandsworth Mediation Service (Commercial Panel). I am also a registered CEDR adjudicator (consumer panel).
From 2003 to 2013, I was managing partner of Gordon Dadds (with which firm I spent the greater part of my career until my retirement at the end of August 2017). Consequently I am aware of the commercial pressures and demands on those running businesses and the need to find a realistic and workable solution to time consuming and expensive disputes without simply papering over the cracks.
I have also advised many private individuals who are unaccustomed to being involved with the legal system and I have developed a reputation for guiding them through an unfamiliar process with tact and sensitivity.
I was President of the London Solicitors Litigation Association from 1998 to 2000 at the time of the Woolf Reforms to civil procedure, which encouraged and incentivised litigants to mediate. I am a long-standing member of the Society for Computers and Law and The Law Society.
On a personal note, I live in London and I am married with two grown up children and four grandchildren. My interests outside work and family include choral singing, golf and walking as well as reading, cooking and visiting art galleries. I am a liveryman of the Merchant Taylors’ Company.
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