I have specialised in commercial dispute resolution both in domestic and international cases, in litigation, in arbitration, and more recently in the study of mediation and ADR.

I prepared the first Scottish arbitration rules of the Chartered institute of Arbiters.

I have acted as arbiter and also as legal adviser to arbiters in commercial cases, professional partnership disputes and construction disputes

I am a past Chairman of the Scottish Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbiters.

I have studied International Commercial Arbitration in Paris at International Chamber of Commerce.

As an arbiter or arbitrator I offer to apply a "commercial court" approach to arbitration

Effective arbitration demands the application of modern legal procedures which leave aside unnecessary procedures and deal directly with the issues which will resolve the dispute

• I offer to use technical assessors to resolve technical issues rather than arguments about how technical matters are specified in written pleadings'
• I will not need to appoint a clerk or legal assessor, so clients do not incur associated costs
• I will address procedural matters with parties' advisers on a proactive basis
• I will make decisions within a time period agreed with the parties

Mediation (or ADR) requires from a mediator the entirely different skill of helping parties reach a solution fashioned by themselves and not limited by the remedies available in court or arbitration. I became an accredited mediator with the Centre for Dispute Resolution and the Law Society of Scotland with practical experience of mediations.