If you speak to anyone who met or appeared before Alan Rodger, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, in a professional capacity, the quality people immediately speak of is his kindness. He was a man who took a lively interest and delight in other people, who encouraged them in their struggles, who applauded them in their success, and who showed compassion in the face of their setbacks. He embodied that quintessentially human virtue of sympathy. He delighted in the company of others. He had a keen eye for everyone’s potential – at times, indeed, keener than their own – and took delight in the flourishing of all those whom he knew, particularly of the young. He was a man without enemies.
Yet for all his gregariousness and ready sociability, he was also an intensely private man; one whose underlying shyness and tendency toward self-effacement evoked all the more affection of those who were privileged to get to know him. He was also the finest lawyer of his generation, and one of the cleverest men ever to have graced the bench – first of Scotland; and latterly – as a Law Lord and then Justice of the Supreme Court – of the United Kingdom.
