Syd qualified as a Solicitor in 1981 and has specialised in personal injury law for the past twenty-five years.

He has qualified as a Solicitor Advocate with rights of audience in the higher Civil Courts of Scotland and has acted for victims of industrial accidents in all employment areas including such major disasters as Piper Alpha.

Syd was the Secretary to the Piper Alpha Trade Union Legal Group at the Cullen Inquiry and has also acted for people caught up in such terrible tragedies as the Lockerbie disaster and the Dunblane shootings.

He has been a Partner in Redress since 1984 and supervises a team of lawyers specialising in industrial and road traffic accidents. He is a member of the Law Society of Scotland's Remuneration Committee; the Working Party on Pre Accident Protocol; a member of the Accreditation Panel for personal injury specialists and a member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.