Hero lecturer speaks truth about Heriot Watt

In a family law lecture today at 12pm, a guest lecturer told first years that although Heriot Watt students needed a visual aid, those at Edinburgh didn’t.

Solicitor John Fotheringham was using a guitar metaphor to explain that just because you know the parts of something really well, it doesn’t mean you know how to do it.

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Fotheringham, who also lectures at Glasgow, explained how knowing the strings and fret board of a guitar doesn’t necessarily make you a good guitarist, just as knowing cases and laws really well doesn’t make you a good lawyer.

He explained that he thought the Edinburgh students didn’t need the visual aid Heriot Watt students did – a picture of a guitar.

Law student Katie, 18, said:

“It was absolutely hilarious. When he mentioned Heriot Watt, I was sitting trying to think of a joke but he beat me to it.”

Joker John was on top form at other points in the lecture, describing a pre-nuptial agreement a “romantic as a pair of beige socks”.

He also described a case where a man with multiple sclerosis wheeled himself to a solicitor’s with “the strength of a seasoned paralympian.”