This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Appointment of new judges
02/02/2005
Her Majesty The Queen, on the recommendation of the
First Minister Rt Hon Jack McConnell MSP, has appointed
five new Senators of the College of Justice who will take
up office shortly.
Three of the new appointees will replace judges who will
retire by the beginning of April 2005 and a fourth will
fill the vacancy created by Lord Bonomy's appointment to
the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia.
The fifth appointee will fill an additional post taking
the total number of judges to a record number of 34.
Jack McConnell said:
"Since devolution five years ago, the Executive has
invested heavily in giving the courts and the prosecution
service the extra resources they need. New investment has
been allied to reform to step up the efficiency and
effectiveness of vital justice services.
"There has also been an increase of 7 permanent High
Court judges, which has risen from 27 in 1999. These are
increases that reflect the growing workload in dealing with
the most serious legal cases."
The five are:
Leeona J Dorrian QC,
Angus J S Glennie QC,
Patrick S Hodge QC,
Iain D Macphail QC and
Alexander F Wylie QC.
The Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland was asked
to consider applications and make recommendations to the
First Minister to fill vacancies in the Court of Session.
The First Minister accepted the Board's recommendations and
as provided for in statute, consulted the Lord President,
Scotland's most senior judge, before making his nominations
to Her Majesty.
The appointment of Leeona Dorrian will bring the number
of female judges to four, Lady Cosgrove having been
appointed in 1996, followed by Lady Paton in 2000 and Lady
Smith in 2001. The new judges will take up their
appointment shortly.
Biographies:
Miss Dorrian (47) was admitted to the
Faculty of Advocates in 1981 and took silk in 1994. As an
advocate she was Standing Junior Counsel first to the
Health & Safety Executive and Commission and later the
Department of Energy and, from 1988 to 1991, was an
Advocate Depute.
Since 1994 she has been involved in advocacy skills
training in Scotland, Canada and elsewhere and from
1995-1998 was Chairman of the Advocates Criminal Law Group,
having formerly served as Secretary and Vice Chairman.
Miss Dorrian is a member of the panel of chairmen of the
Disciplinary Appeal Tribunal of the Institute of Chartered
Accountants, Scotland, and a member of the UK Board of the
Franco British Lawyers Society. In 2002 she was appointed
Assessor for the Scottish Executive for compensation for
miscarriage of justice and in 2004 was similarly appointed
Assessor for the Northern Ireland Office.
She has served as a temporary judge since 2002.
Mr Glennie (54) was called to the English
Bar in 1974 and after a pupillage in criminal and common
law, joined chambers working mainly in the Commercial Court
and Court of Appeal in London, and in commercial and
international arbitration. He took silk there in 1991.
He appeared in a number of cases in the House of Lords
and Privy Council and is a member of the Gibraltar Bar
having appeared several times in the courts there.
Admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1992, he took
silk in 1998. Mr Glennie is instructed in a wide range of
matters, mainly commercial, but also other areas such as
judicial review and reparation.
Admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1983, Mr Hodge
(51) took silk in 1996. Prior to becoming an advocate he
was a civil servant and on becoming junior counsel he was
involved in a wide range of work involving mainly civil
practice.
Between 1989 and 1996 he was Standing Junior Counsel,
first to the Department of Energy in Scotland and then to
the Inland Revenue in Scotland. As a QC his work has been
mainly in commercial law, judicial review and property
law.
From 1997 to 2003 he was part-time Commissioner with the
Scottish Law Commission where his principal
responsibilities were preparing and writing a report on the
reform of partnership law, involvement in writing reports
on shareholder remedies and directors' duties, and
commenting on law reform work.
Since 2000 he has been part-time Procurator to the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and a Judge of
the Court of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey.
Iain Macphail (66) was admitted to the
Faculty of Advocates in 1963 and took silk in 1990. From
1968 to 1972 he was lecturer in evidence and procedure,
first at the University of Strathclyde then at the
University of Edinburgh.
He was Standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Home and
Health Department and the Department of Health and Social
Security before being appointed Sheriff of Glasgow in 1973.
In 1981 he transferred to be Sheriff at Alloa moving to
Linlithgow in 1982.
In the year 1987-1988 he wrote the book "Sheriff Court
Practice" a standard work on civil procedure in the sheriff
court. He returned to the bench in 1988 as Sheriff at
Edinburgh and was a Commissioner with the Scottish Law
Commission from 1990 to 1994.
He was the Arthur Goodhart Professor in Legal Science at
Cambridge University for the academic year 2001-2002 and
was appointed Sheriff Principal of Lothian and Borders
following his return to Edinburgh. He is currently Chairman
of the Sheriff Court Rules Council.
Mr Wylie (53) was admitted Solicitor in
1976 and to the Faculty of Advocates in 1978, taking silk
in 1991. As an advocate he has been mainly involved in
civil litigation, was Standing Junior Counsel to the
Accountant of Court from 1986 to 1989 and was an Advocate
Depute from 1989 to 1992.
He served as a member (latterly as Deputy Chairman) of
the Scottish Legal Aid Board from 1994 to 2002. Since 1994
he has been a part-time Chairman of the Discipline
Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of
Scotland and in 2001 was appointed part-time Chairman of
the Police Appeals Tribunal.
Mr Wylie has served as a temporary sheriff and was
appointed part-time sheriff in 2000. In 2004 he was
appointed as a Board member of the Scottish Criminal Cases
Review Commission.