J. GORDON REID Q.C., F.C.I.Arb.

Gordon was born (24/7/52), bred and educated in Edinburgh. He attended Melville College from the age of five until he left school at eighteen. He studied law at Edinburgh University between 1970 and 1974, where he graduated with honours.

Gordon began what was then known as an apprenticeship, with a small Edinburgh firm of solicitors (Miller Thomson & Robertson) in October 1974. He was immediately attracted to litigation and after qualifying as a solicitor in October 1976, he remained as a qualified assistant solicitor in that firm's Court Department. He gained early experience of full responsibility for a wide range of civil disputes, due to the Court partner's somewhat relaxed attitude to business.

In January 1977, Gordon joined Dan Mackay & Norwell, a small Edinburgh firm which specialised in criminal law. Dan Mackay is a name which is probably unknown to the younger generation of lawyers. He was one of, if not the, leading criminal lawyer of his generation in the fifties and sixties. Although Dan Mackay was in the twilight of his years in the seventies, Gordon gained much experience and learned many valuable lessons from working with him and his successors Vincent Belmonte, and Robert Foreman.

In January 1978, Gordon joined the Court Department of Dundas & Wilson CS, Edinburgh, where he remained for just over two years. During that period, Gordon formed the intention of, in due course, becoming a practising advocate at the Bar in Scotland. He did not have the financial resources to do so immediately and did not consider himself sufficiently experienced in the law to take that major step. He worked long hours with Dundas & Wilson to gain the necessary experience. At that time the Dundas & Wilson Court Department was a service department for all the other specialists departments within the firm, company, estates conveyancing, commercial and domestic conveyancing etc; the court department also handled the usual range of personal injury, divorce, planning and commercial disputes including a wide range of insolvency work for the Royal Bank of Scotland. Gordon worked with most of the partners on a whole range of disputes at some point during his period with D & W.

In March 1980 Gordon began devilling (pupillage). He devilled to Andrew Hardie (now Lord Hardie, and former Dean of Faculty and Lord Advocate), and Donald JD Macfadyen Q.C. (now Lord Macfadyen and former Vice Dean of Faculty). Gordon was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in December 1980 and joined the McGouldrick stable.

As a junior Gordon gained experience in a wide range of civil litigation in his early years including divorce, and personal injury work (which were the backbone of the practices of most civil juniors at that time) and insolvency, company law and a wide range of opinion work. At an early stage Gordon, with the encouragement of Brian Gill QC (now the Lord Justice- Clerk) acquired an interest in agricultural law. Gordon indexed the first and second editions of Lord Gill's book on Agricultural Holdings in Scotland. He worked with or appeared against Brian Gill and John Murray QC ( who was also a specialists in agricultural law) in a wide range of agricultural disputes.

Since his early years at the Bar, Gordon has been engaged in a wide range of civil litigation, which has included, in particular, Building and Engineering law, Agricultural and land law including commercial leases, and professional negligence, principally professional negligence in the construction industry, surveyors' negligence, solicitors' negligence and medical negligence. He also has some experience of Planning Law. His experience in construction law has developed over the last twenty years or so and includes the conducting of complex arbitrations on behalf of both employers and contractors. More recently, he has also been involved in various Adjudications and computer and software contract disputes. He was called to the English Bar in 1991 and has a Door Tenancy with Atkin Chambers, Grays Inn, London. Atkin Chambers is one of the two leading construction law Chambers in England. Gordon has provided advice on Scots Law, through Atkin Chambers, to London solicitors from time to time on Scottish aspects of multi-million pound disputes.

Gordon was a standing Junior to the Scottish Development Department for many years. He was called to the English Bar in 1991, and took Silk in 1993. He was made a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in 1994. In 1997, he was appointed a Part Time Chairman of the VAT and Duties Tribunal in Edinburgh and a Deputy Special Commissioner for Income Tax. He continues to hold these appointments. These have given him substantial experience of presiding over technically complex issues both factual and legal, and writing decisions in these difficult areas of law. They have given him valuable insight into the techniques of advocacy and persuasion. In 2002 Gordon was appointed a Temporary Judge of the Court of Session (equivalent to a Deputy High Court Judge in England. He sits in the Court of Session on an occasional basis and has issued a number of Opinions on a variety of topics. His judicial opinions have been well received within the profession and more than a few have been reported in the Scottish Law Reports, namely the Scots Law Times and Session Cases. He is also one of two Scottish Arbitrators appointed (in 2003) by the Department of Transport under the Motor Insurers Bureau Agreements for the compensation of victims of untraced drivers. These part time appointments do not interfere with his own practice as a Silk. Gordon values the flexibility which the part-time nature of these appointments gives him and has no intention of seeking a full time judicial appointment.

In recent years Gordon has tended to work mainly, but not exclusively, in the field of construction law, and land law including some planning appeal work. The proportion of time spent in and out of court varies from month to month and year to year depending on the nature of the cases currently being undertaken.

SOME RECENT CASES

Scrabster Harbour Trust v Mowlem 2005 SLT 499 2006 SLT 250 (adjudication, Outer House and Inner House- dispute about harbour facility ICE 5th)

Emcor Drake & Scull v Edinburgh Joint Venture 2005 SLT 1233 (electrical work at New Royal Infirmary Edinburgh)

Hojgaard AS v Forth Estuary Transport Authority 2005 SLT 187 (construction industry tax issues)

Logan v Scottish Water 2005 SLT 1183 (statutory pipeline claim)
Inverclyde Council v Mowlem 2003, unreported (arbitrations over Leisure Centre and appeal to Inner House on nominated- sub contractor issues)

Blyth & Blyth Ltd v Carillion Construction Ltd 2002 SLT 961 (novation)

East of Scotland Water Authority v Logan 2000 SLT 28 (statutory pipeline claim)

Moray Estates Dev. Co v Butler 1999 SLT 1338 (agricultural)

MacFarlane v Falfield Investments Ltd 1998 SLT 145 (agricultural)

MT Construction Ltd v William Reid Engineering Ltd 1998 SLT 211 (buildings/insurance/fire)

Style Financial Services Ltd v Bank of Scotland (No 2) 1998 SLT 851 (banking)

Norwest Holst v East of Scotland Water Authority 1997/8 pipeline arbitration)

PERSONAL

Gordon is married to Hannah, who is a qualified solicitor. She gave up practice to dedicate her life to looking after the children and Gordon. Without Hannah, the success Gordon has achieved in his career would simply not have been possible. They have four children, all now teenagers, and live in the country about four miles inland from St Andrews, Fife. Gordon commutes by train to Edinburgh on a regular basis but also works from home in the evenings; and at home, during the day about once each week. Gordon strives to maintain a proper balance between family life and the law. The work of an advocate makes that balance difficult to strike. Both need to be placed in their proper perspective from time to time.