I welcome this opportunity to provide the foreword to Iain Nicol and James Flett’s book. I regard it as an honour to be asked to do so.

Iain is a well-respected legal practitioner in Scotland and is regarded as an expert in civil litigation in our jurisdiction, particularly in the field of personal injury law, where he and I have viewed our respective clients’ interests, and prospects, from rather opposite ends of the telescope! Iain is a part-time sheriff and Fellow of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, he is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in personal injury law, and is convenor of their Civil Justice Committee, on which I have served with him for a number of years. He is a past member of the Scottish Civil Justice Council’s Costs and Funding Committee. Most importantly of all, he has been and remains a hugely experienced and successful personal injury lawyer. He has had to grapple with the intricacies and details of our system in Scotland that governs the way in which parties to a civil litigation both pay for their own legal representation, and reclaim that from their opponent when, and if, successful.

James, as chairman of one of Scotland’s largest and most respected firms of law accountants, has extensive knowledge and experience of all aspects of the taxation process, from the preparation of judicial accounts, negotiation of the accounts, to the conduct of lengthy and complex taxations.

So, I cannot think of a better qualified duo to author Expenses: A Civil Practitioners Handbook.

I was trained and mentored early on in my own career by a senior partner in my firm who carried around in his head more knowledge about the dark art of expenses than anyone else at that time, and subsequently became a hugely respected auditor of the Court of Session. One of the complaints I had at that time was that that knowledge and experience was inaccessible other than by mind-reading or, in his case, excellent training. Iain and James’s book provides a much needed and welcome guide for a busy practitioner who does not have the time to trawl through the relevant legislation, which is, of course, available but often seemingly impenetrable.