It is a privilege to have this opportunity to add a personal recollection to the obituary recently published in News & Views. Ian Menzies was a distinguished member of the Society of Construction Arbitrators and his colleagues are the poorer for his passing.

There is so much that could be said, but I rather think Ian would prefer to be remembered for his honesty and robust, practical common sense than for his erudition, although he had all three in abundance.

I can only speculate to how many of us have fallen under the spell of that unmistakable voice and that firm good humour. Certainly there are the Institute's Diploma Students and others who attended the courses and conferences in which he always played a leading role, but there must be many more who were involved in arbitration before Ian, or in other proceedings where he took part as an expert, who will have been enriched by the experience and who will not forget Ian Menzies.

He made his mark, and it was a mark made for good; I venture to suggest that many of us, faced with problems in the future, may well take pause, and ask ourselves 'what would Ian have done?'.

Among Ian's more remarkable assignments was an intergovernmental case in the Middle East and I am grateful to my friend and colleague Michael Schneider, of Lalive & Partners, for the note which follows:

In 1983 the Governments of a Western European and a Middle Eastern country decided to submit some differences to an expert consultancy procedure. The differences related to claims concerning the construction of some major infrastructure projects that had arisen in relation to one of the wars in the Middle East.

The two Governments searched in Europe for experts in engineering, legal and contractual matters. Four were finally selected, two engineers and two lawyers. Ian Menzies was one of them. together, with one of the lawyers from a civil law country on the European continent, he proceeded with an inspection of the Site, hearings of the Parties and an examination of the voluminous files.

During the seven months that followed the commencement of the assignment, Ian Menzies spent an important part of his time on it, travelling between his office in London, that of his colleague on the Continent and the country of the project. In a race against the very tight time frame that the Governments had fixed for the Consultants, two detailed reports were prepared, one on liability the other on quantum of the numerous claims that had to be examined.

After a long weekend in Ian's home during which the Final Report was completed, each of the two Consultants travelled to one of the countries concerned and delivered to their Governments the conclusion of the assignment. It appears that, on the basis of this report, the two Governments settled their differences.

That was an important event, of course, but I am writing this as a celebration, a celebration of a man who has touched all our lives. And celebrations are nothing if not personal. So I would now like to reflect briefly on a happy personal association.

I had the privilege of working closely with Ian on a couple of occasions, as well as serving him as one of the lecturers on the summer course for the Institute's Diploma.

In one matter we had a most interesting experience with litigation about a roll-on-roll-off ramp which had bent into a strange shape. That was a task shared with a number of friends; indeed, as is so often the case, there were also friends on the other side of the case.

We were together over a number of years in a matter, which also arose from events in the Middle East, but required much work to be done in Geneva and Lausanne, among other places. We shared the privilege of working with a legal team led by a colleague who had become a friend of Ian through work they had done together in the assignment I have already described. An enduring memory is that of walking through the streets of Geneva to our hotel at three or four in the morning still discussing the details of a complicated case which, eventually, was interrupted for a time by the Gulf war.

Only a week or so ago, I was again in Geneva, in another case, and one of the lawyers happened to hear Ian's name mentioned. "Ah, yes" he told me, "we were involved in an arbitration before Mr Menzies, and our opponent, who also had a Scots name, referred to him as Mr Menzzies. The arbitrator replied, very politely but firmly and said to him 'It is Mingies; with a name like yours you should know that!'".

I found myself smiling; I knew those words so well.

Joy and I have been privileged to have Monica and Ian as friends. It is a privilege we shall cherish. I have been privileged to have had Ian as a friend and colleague and it has been an honour to have had this opportunity of celebrating that association and sharing it with the Branch.

Ian Menzies will not be forgotten, we will recall him with pride.