Jim Farry might disagree, but there is no doubt that Celtic and the SFA could not have found a better qualified man than Lord Dervaird to arbitrate in the dispute over the registration of the club's former Portuguese striker, Jorge Cadete.

The only son of a Wigtownshire farmer, John Murray, now 63, was educated at Stranraer High School and Edinburgh Academy before graduating with a first class honours degree from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in 1959.

He completed his law degree at Edinburgh in 1962 before joining the Scottish Bar, where he carved out an enviable reputation as a heavyweight, particularly in

commercial and agricultural law.

He became a QC in 1974, before a brief spell as a Court of Session and High Court judge between February 1988 and his stunning resignation in December the following year.

His resignation came in the midst of lurid stories about a gay conspiracy in the Scottish legal establishment.

The wilder allegations were laid to rest by the Nimmo Smith/Friel report, which nevertheless made it clear that Lord Dervaird had been guilty of indiscreet behaviour which was incompatible with his continued tenure as a judge.

Lord Dervaird's career seemed in ruins but within a few months he had bounced back as the first ever holder of the Dickson Minto Chair of Company and Commercial Law at Edinburgh University.

He has been a conspicuous success in the post, perhaps more at ease with himself and with the academic challenge than he was as a judge.

He provides opinions on complex areas of commercial law and is one of the country's foremost arbitration experts.

Married with three sons,

Professor Murray's interests

outside the law include farming, gardening, music, ornithology, curling, and field sports.