[3] He undertook his apprenticeship as a solicitor at East Kilbride Town Council between 1968 and 1970, before moving into practice with Ballantyne and Copland in Motherwell, rising to become a partner.

In 1983, he left to begin devilling, and in 1984 was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates, gaining Queen's Counsel status in 1993.

[1] A tabloid newspaper nicknamed him "Judge Dread" when he jailed a heroin-dealer for ten years for failing within twenty-four hours to name his supplier.

In August 2008, he was appointed to preside over preparations for the trial of captured former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić.

[11] On 6 February 2020 he was appointed as a Judge to the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT).