Alastair Bissett-Johnson

Professor of private law; Born May 14, 1941; Died July 9, 2008. ALASTAIR Bissett-Johnson, who has died of a pulmonary embolism aged 67, belonged to that rare breed of academic whose dedication to their students was matched only by their dedication to their subject. His substantial body of work - particularly in calling for greater fairness to women in calculating financial provisions during divorce - represents a lasting contribution to the legal system.

Professor of private law; Born May 14, 1941; Died July 9, 2008.

ALASTAIR Bissett-Johnson, who has died of a pulmonary embolism aged 67, belonged to that rare breed of academic whose dedication to their students was matched only by their dedication to their subject. His substantial body of work - particularly in calling for greater fairness to women in calculating financial provisions during divorce - represents a lasting contribution to the legal system.

Many women who find themselves going through a divorce now share in their partner's pension and see some recompense for their forfeit of earnings while bringing up children. They have Bissett-Johnson to thank. He fought - with a very sharp pen, as great scholars do - to make this practice standard.

Born in Choppington, Northumberland, he was the son of psychiatric nurses. His father died when he was six years old. A funded place saw him through school and on to the University of Nottingham, where he gained an honours degree in law. While there he won an English Speaking Union/Fulbright Fellowship to study for an LLM at the University of Michigan.

Bissett-Johnson's academic career started at the age of 22, when he was appointed assistant lecturer at the University of Sheffield. His first academic article was published the year after, in the Solicitor's Quarterly. Titled "The deserted wife's equity and the prudent purchaser", it began a commitment to a cause he developed and campaigned on throughout the 43 years of his legal career.

Within a year he was appointed as a lecturer at the University of Bristol. Here, he met Dr Winnie Macpherson, an Aberdonian who specialised in cancer research. They married in 1967.

He moved to a post as senior lecturer at the University of Leicester, which included a two-year sabbatical at Monash University in Melbourne. In 1976 he and Winnie moved to Canada, where he taught at McGill University, Montreal, before becoming, at 36, the youngest ever professor at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia. In each of the countries in which he lectured, he trained as a barrister, gaining practical experience of the application of law alongside his academic work. However, he was one of the most unassuming men you could meet, considering himself a "time-served journeyman".

In Canada he was the co-ordinator of Juvenile and Family Law Reform in Yukon and co-drafted its Children's Act 1984, an ambitious piece of legislation that provided for the care and protection of children while being sensitive to the then-problematic cultural differences between the Indian and non-Indian population.

Winnie's dedication to finding a cure for cancer did not make her immune to it: they discovered ovarian cancer while in Canada, which resulted in them moving back to the UK. Bissett-Johnson took up the chair of private law at the University of Dundee in 1991, where he taught family law, international private law and English law subjects. Sadly, Winnie died in 1992.

Aside from his feminist legal reform agenda, it is for his skill as a lecturer and enthuser that so many of today's lawyers, advocates/barristers and judges will remember Bissett-Johnson. The law is but a collection of stories, and Bissett-Johnson was a sparkling narrator.

He brought colour and life to the otherwise plodding and process-driven parts of family law and international private law (a requirement for those who wish to head to the bar). In telling the stories behind the cases, he made them human, comical or poignant - and easy to remember in an exam. His exam papers were notoriously hilarious, which made the process much less of an endurance test.

In 1995 he resumed contact with Ann Taylor, who returned to the UK after working as a nurse in South Africa. She was the daughter of a very close family friend and they had played together as children. They married on 15 March, 1996.

In the words of former student Jim MacDonald, Bissett-Johnson (known to all as BJ) "was always prepared to go the extra mile to help someone". He found time for those students who were experiencing difficulties: an e-mail in your inbox or a note through your letterbox reminded you he was there if you needed him.

He and Ann regularly invited students round for dinner, where they would enjoy hearty meals and northern warmth.

But BJ's support was not limited to a regular feed. He sought his students' help in researching and writing academic articles. This practice is not as common as it should be but, as he saw it, he wanted to do what he could to help his students "get on". He shared the byline and split the proceeds 50:50, even if he had done a greater part of the graft.

Bissett-Johnson retired from Dundee University in 2006. A member of the Scottish Episcopal Church, he served as Chancellor of the Diocese of Brechin. He also regularly attended the Church of Scotland across the road from his house, because he "liked the folk there".

Bissett-Johnson is survived by Ann; his mother-in-law, Nancy; and his sister-in-law, Jean, and her family in California. He also leaves a multitude of former students whose lives and careers are all the better for the fun and encouragement he gave them.