Solicitor swaps office for ops room to lead battle against foot and mouthTACKLING DISEASE: machine gun platoon commander thrust into busy operations centre As legal work surrounding the foot- and-mouth crisis mounts, a property litigation solicitor has been drafted in to lead the battle against the disease from the frontline.

Mike Watson, a solicitor in the Sheffield office of Nabarro Nathanson and captain in the Territorial Army, has spent the past fortnight in the operations room at Alexandra Barracks in Lancaster.

He has been responsible for planning and co-ordinating the deployment of troops, vets, slaughter men, transport and decontamination units, as part of Operation Peninsular.

Working in the ops room can have some parallels with what I do at work, Capt Watson told the Gazette.

At times, you are working under great pressure, with many people making demands of you.

But this week he returned to the office to discover that the legal and military environments are a complete and utter contrast.

While the ops room is very busy and active with a lot of liaising, the office is quiet and tranquil in comparison, he said.

Capt Watson is in the infantry regiment of the Lancastrian and Cumbrian Volunteers, based in Preston.

As a machine gun platoon commander, he spends many weekends in the countryside on manouevres.He said: Its a great way of letting yourself go after a hard week in the office.Andrew Towler