Obituary: John Kerr, respected lawyer known for his expertise in sports law. An appreciation

Died: March 17, 2019

JOHN Kerr, who has died aged 62, was a respected lawyer and a friend, support and a patient mentor to many young members of the profession. Over 25 years he also did much to promote the Association of European Lawyers and its values of client service, investment in people and collaboration across borders in the promotion of the rule of law.

John had an outstanding academic career. He attended John Watson’s Primary and Secondary Schools where he was head boy and Dux. He was awarded a first class honours degree in law from Edinburgh University in 1978 and later tutored there in mercantile law.

In the autumn of 1978 he joined Strathern & Blair W.S. as an apprentice to George S Russell, John W Blair, Tom Campbell, John Reid and others. He excelled during his training and was kept on to do a variety of legal work serving personal, corporate and public authority clients and also appearing regularly in the district and sheriff courts.

He was admitted as a W.S. on 9 December 1980, as a solicitor on 18 December 1980 and was assumed as a partner at S&B in 1984. He was instrumental in promoting the merger with J& F Anderson WS in 1992 to form Anderson Strathern where he remained a partner till his death, serving the firm most ably on both its management committee and its board.

As legal practice became more specialised John became primarily a corporate lawyer but one of his exceptional strengths was his versatility. His legal expertise included education, charities, governance and food and drink. Famously in 2014 he acted for members of the MacKinnon family in the sale of Drambuie and the transfer of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s secret recipe which Anderson Strathern held in its safe.

His breadth of expertise also included sports law which saw John recognised with a top tier ranking in the legal directories. He became involved in legal matters across virtually every sporting discipline including for Hibs, helping to bring the Scottish Open to Gullane, for Sports Scotland and for the Scottish governing bodies for badminton, boxing, cricket, tennis and for the SRU.

John himself was a keen golfer, tennis player at Abercorn and rugby player and fan. His enthusiasm and organisational skills merited him a place on the first ever Stewart’s Melville RFC Rugby Tour to Canada in 1980 in an era where he was in the company of Calders, MacKenzies, Brewsters, Blackwood, Littlefair, Scott, Morgan and other legends. And John became a legend: as an excellent tourer.

He never lost his appetite for court work and was a director of the Sports Dispute Resolution Panel. With Fraser Geddes he successfully defended a civil claim in the South African Courts and the boys have a photo of John in the Supreme Court in London at the televised hearing in November 2015 where John made new law in winning the case of Cramasco.

In January 2002 at an Anderson Strathern partners’ meeting John enthusiastically commended a new sponsorship opportunity he had identified: a 14-year-old tennis player from Dunblane who was the best John had ever seen. John explained that the lad had already won the Orange Bowl tournament for under-12s in Florida. Perhaps the family were looking for support to send him to Barcelona and AS could offer a lifetime sponsorship that in years to come would see the logo at Grand Slams around the globe. A world champion tennis player from Dunblane! The partners torpedoed the proposition. So, despite John’s eloquence and best endeavours, Sir Andy Murray OBE missed out on a lifetime of AS sponsorship.

Under John’s cheerful and very witty exterior was a sharp intellect. We all learned a long time ago to respect his views and observations, which were often one-step ahead and always expressed kindly, diplomatically and with a canny smile.

We remain convinced he would have been aware of the magnificent performance that Scotland gave at Twickenham the evening before he died. It was the most fitting tribute they could have paid to such a loyal supporter and champion.

Because of our stories and his virtues, John will never be lost to us. He lit up every room, every event, every gathering. He was a great character, a great lawyer, and a great family man. He leaves us all a great legacy.

On 23 May 2019, in memory of John Kerr, the Association of European Lawyers established an annual prize to recognise an outstanding contribution by a young lawyer from one of its 40 firms covering 42 jurisdictions.

John Kerr died suddenly at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on 17 March after a short illness and is survived by his wife Adrienne, and his sons Struan and Moray.

ROBERT CARR