The Gazette’s report of the death of Professor Cyril Glasser did not allude to the fact that he was an outstanding and much-loved law teacher.

Some of our members attended his seminars at University College London, where he delivered weekly lectures on civil procedure with specific reference to the Woolf proposals.

Our members still remember with gratitude and much affection the fact that his seminars were linked to a few leading cases, the analysis of which supplied the rationale behind the various orders set out in the new Civil Procedure Rules. He would invite law lords and lords justices to address his class to defend or explain decisions with which the academic lawyers disagreed. And because of the large presence of American lawyers and scholars at these seminars, he would regularly remind participants of the words of Abraham Lincoln (a notable trial lawyer) in civil proceedings: ‘Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbours to compromise wherever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser in fees, expenses and waste of time. As a peacemaker, the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.’

Professor Glasser was a good man. Our condolences go to his family.

Diane Long , executive assistant, Joint Committee for Ethnic Minorities in Wales