David Wightman trained in London and became partner at the London firm Kenneth Brown Baker Baker, where he established a formidable list of international construction clients. He was a regular attendee at International Bar Association (“IBA”) meetings. Through its section on international construction, the IBA provided a lively forum for the production of papers and debates on major construction law issues of the day, although these papers were not widely circulated. As part of the section’s work, Humphrey LLoyd piloted a series of reports from countries on their laws. More critically, an international journal did not exist yet in the field of construction law. However, Lloyds of London Press already published a quarterly journal on maritime and commercial law and saw the opportunity for a similar publication for international construction based on that model and with same format. Thus, in 1983, Wightman and Lloyd launched the ICLR with a clear ambition: to create a “clearing house for views and opinions” on construction law worldwide. Over the next 24 years, Wightman served as a co-editor-in-chief, guiding countless volumes of the law review and ensuring that contributions from every continent found their place within its pages.

As co-editor, Wightman championed both rigorous peer review and editorial elegance. His insistence on comparative analysis and his encouragement of non-anglophone scholarship broadened the ICLR’s reach, setting a robust standard for international legal dialogue that endures to this day. Wightman collaborated closely with the publishers to preserve the ICLR’s distinctive format and typesetting – an aesthetic nod to its roots that remains unchanged till this day. Letters and short updates from a network of correspondents (stemming from the IBA country reports) enriched each issue, reinforcing the law review’s role as an indispensable resource for legal practitioners, academics, engineers, arbitrators and other professionals alike.

Wightman is also remembered by colleagues for his generosity as a mentor. He welcomed submissions from aspiring authors, guided high-achieving student essays to print and challenged established voices to engage with emerging perspectives. His editorial correspondence was not merely transactional; it was an invitation to think beyond familiar legal frameworks and to appreciate the diversity of construction practices around the world.