Richard Alexander Barrie (1962 – 2024)

It would do Richard a great disservice to describe him simply as a litigator or solicitor. He was much more than that. He was one of that special breed of court lawyers that Glasgow manages to produce. He was a fixer. A street fighter. Sporting his trade-mark thick rimmed glasses and an immaculate designer suit, it was Richard to whom so many clients large and small, famous and obscure turned when they were in a corner and had their back against a wall.

Practising from MacRoberts, where he was made partner in 1992, and latterly with Levy & McRae, RAB was a pioneer in the field of construction litigation at a time before it became the well-established specialism it is today. He was the sub-contractor’s hired gun of choice. And after the creation of adjudication in 1996 there was perhaps no-one better placed to put the “smash” into the now ubiquitous “smash and grab” claim.

It is not surprising that the law reports are full of many of Richard’s cases from the early days of the new regime just as they are with a variety of other cases which continue to be cited of routine in the courts by commercial lawyers. Indeed, Richard contributed to all three editions of MacRoberts on Scottish Building Contracts which means we can, perhaps incongruously, add published author to his list of accomplishments.

But it was unlikely that one would ever find Richard with his nose in a law report, at least not for very long. Rather, he was a master tactician and supreme strategist. By some dark art, Richard saw things in a case or situation which eluded the rest of us trying to find the solution in the footnotes of the textbooks.

Only recently, it was necessary for me to have to explain to an exasperated instructing solicitor during an appeal that, despite everything that was said in the authorities, there was simply no prospect of the appeal court overturning a judgment which RAB had procured from the sheriff by combination of his intellect, wits and beguiling force of personality. Richard was a swaggering and energetic rebuke to those who cling to the idea that law is an academic science which should always produce the same result regardless of conditions. Richard well understood that this was a nonsense and could deploy that understanding to devastating effect.

That is why clients and colleagues loved him. They trusted him to try to achieve the impossible. And, unlike many self-proclaimed “leading” litigators, Richard saw himself as others saw him, and, more importantly, was still prepared to set the example by rolling up his sleeves and getting into the trenches. He would, particularly in the early days of the new construction regime, square off against senior and junior counsel and stand up to disgruntled judges, arbitrators and adjudicators in cases worth many millions of pounds. He was not afraid of anyone and had justifiable confidence in his own abilities, without ever condescending.

One very senior member of Faculty remembers as a young junior being in awe of Richard folding his arms indignantly over his gown and telling the sheriff principal who was, perhaps, being less than gracious in receiving Richard’s submissions, that “if that’s going to be your position m’lord, I might as well not bother!”. Indeed, it is a great testament to Richard that, since his untimely death, messages and fond memories have been shared by former comrades and opponents alike who are themselves now leading partners, senior and junior members of Faculty, sheriffs and senators of the College of Justice.

But we should be clear that the allure of appearing in court could fade, very quickly, if Richard was having a good Cheltenham or if his beloved Rangers had made it to a European final. In those circumstances it was only a matter of time before an assistant or associate received a phone call on which instructions would be issued for the proof starting tomorrow at this sheriff court or that sheriff court. RAB would never seek to conceal the sound of hooves thumping, glasses clinking or golf balls being struck in the background (he conducted a number of negotiations with mobile phone pressed to his shoulder and sand iron firmly in hand).

But those who roll their eyes at this should understand the most important point: Richard never threw his colleagues or juniors under the bus. And that was why all of those who had to deal with a “RAB Special” from time to time were prepared to go over the top for him. They were loyal to him, and he was loyal to them. If it went wrong, Richard would take the flak and nearly always land on his feet.

One occasion where it almost went badly wrong was when he took the view that a proof was bound to be discharged whilst he followed Rangers to the UEFA cup final in Manchester. The key client witness had, on soul and conscience, been certified as too ill to attend. Richard’s then assistant was assured that there was “no way” the case, starting the following day, would proceed in these circumstances. The Sheriff disagreed. The case ran. And it ran for several days. Richard orchestrated proceedings from afar and, whilst sampling the wine bars of Manchester, never ignored a call. The assistant won their first proof and had a war story for life.

Before leaving Rangers-related matters, it would be remiss to leave out the morning when Richard took an urgent phone-call from John “Bomber” Brown who was seeking to assemble a crack team of blue-nosed lawyers to go to court to find the elusive title deeds for Ibrox. Even the fearless and tenacious Richard was able to control his stauncher instincts in turning down that particular brief. He did, however, on behalf of one of his loyal band of clients run successfully the litigation to proof in which a certain Craig Whyte was held to be “wholly unreliable” by the Sheriff at Glasgow. Richard was, of course, in complete agreement with that assessment.

This is to say nothing of other cases and wild stories involving triad gangsters, ’90s game show hosts and a former member of the SAS who participated in the Iranian embassy siege. And whilst on the theme of military operations from the 1980s, Richard would no doubt remind us that he was himself in fact once deployed to the Falkland Islands for the purpose of managing a dispute (probably to defend the honour of a certificate of practical completion as opposed to Her Majesty’s territories overseas, but what does that matter?).

Clients were used to – and liked – straight talking from Richard. On being asked to issue a guarantee that a decision in a very complex and difficult case would go the client’s way, Richard explained firmly that he was not in the business of selling washing machines. Another client, who had a penchant for wearing permanently a Bluetooth earpiece from which he would take urgent calls, was told that the said gizmo had better not be worn at a critical summit as “Tracy Island could get in touch after the meeting if necessary!”. On another occasion, at consultation, he asked a former Scotland internationalist to play a recording he had made of an expletive ridden bust-up with another former top-flight footballer, not because it would have any evidential or material value in the case, but simply “to give us all a good laugh”.

Like many litigators he had to adapt to WebEx. In Richard’s case, following a “diary error”, this meant borrowing at the last minute and then sporting a tie which clashed with one of his extraordinary array of designer polo shirts (garments which made use of colour palettes which only the most self-assured would consider adopting in public).

Richard, unlike far too many lawyers, would use one word, even if 10 would do – that is, unless he was recounting a recent escapade or revelling in a delicious morsel of gossip. In these circumstances one would encounter the special RAB pout (imagine a Glaswegian Jagger) and flick of the hair as he modulated his voice at the peroration of stories that, once told, could never be forgotten.

If you had the misfortune to consider that Richard Barrie was not your cup of tea, it was because he wasn’t a cup of tea. Richard was a fizzing pint of Tennent’s lager with a great head and crisp finish. And that was increasingly refreshing in a world of oat milk flat whites and pretentious craft beers.

Richard’s hinterland was so rich that there was nothing hinter about it. He would much rather talk about football, golf, politics, the form on the racetrack, the Rangers and the Miami Dolphins. But the magic in him was that he could draw on all these things together with his wry understanding of the ways of the world in talking plainly to clients and decision makers about extremely complicated matters of real substance. He would only tell a war story if it was absurdly funny. And if he was a protagonist, Richard would never seek to aggrandise his own involvement in the tale.

In a profession where too many take themselves far too seriously, Richard could artfully self-deprecate without ever compromising the crackling presence and charisma which everyone who knew him well will remember so fondly, and now miss so terribly.

Scott Manson

Richard Alexander Barrie will be laid to rest on Monday 23 September with a service of remembrance taking place at 2.30pm in Kelvinside Hillhead Parish Church, 23 Sauton Street, Glasgow and a reception thereafter at Òran Mór, Byres Road, Glasgow.