This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Retiral of Lord President
15/07/2005
The Right Hon The Lord Cullen of Whitekirk has announced
his intention to retire from office on November 25, 2005.
Lord Cullen (69) was first appointed as a Senator of the
College of Justice in 1986. He served as Lord Justice Clerk
from 1997-2001 before being appointed to the office of Lord
President of the Court of Session in November of that
year.
The First Minister has announced that, in keeping with
the Executive's policy of greater openness and transparency
in public appointments procedures, it would be appropriate
to invite expressions of interest in the position from
suitably qualified candidates.
The First Minister has appointed a special panel to
consider expressions of interest, to meet each candidate
and to provide him with a report on the suitability of each
person for this key appointment.
The panel will comprise two senior judicial figures and
two lay people drawn from the membership of the Judicial
Appointments Board. They are: The Right Hon The Lord Hope
of Craighead, Sir David Edward QC, Sir Neil McIntosh (who
will chair the panel) and Mrs Barbara Duffner.
Mr McConnell said:
"Lord Cullen has given outstanding public service both
in his role as a judge and as Chair of some of the most
important public inquiries of recent times including the
Piper Alpha disaster, the Dunblane primary school shootings
and the Ladbroke Grove Rail crash.
"He has presided over a programme of modernisation of
the High Court and the Court of Session which has already
delivered some good results.
" It will be essential to find a successor to carry this
initiative forward and I am asking the panel to focus on
this key aspect in their deliberations."
The Rt Hon The Lord Cullen is retiring in November after
19 years as a judge. It is for the Prime Minister to make a
recommendation to the Queen on who should replace Lord
Cullen but he may not recommend any person who has not been
nominated to him by the First Minister.
The Rt Hon Lord Hope of Craighead (James Arthur David
Hope) has been a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary since 1996. He
held the office of Lord President from 1989 to 1996 and
prior to that was Dean of the Faculty of Advocates between
1986 and 1989.
Sir David Edward QC began his career as an advocate and
was Clerk and Treasurer to the Faculty of Advocates in the
1970s. He became a judge of the Court of Justice of the
European Communities in 1992 and served until his retiral
in 2004.
Sir Neil McIntosh has been Chairman of the Judicial
Appointments Board for Scotland since 2002. He is the
former Chief Executive of Dumfries and Galloway Regional
Council and Strathclyde Regional Council from which he
retired in 1996.
Mrs Barbara Duffer, OBE was Head of People and
Organisational Development North for the Royal Mail. Her
whole career was with the Royal Mail where she gained wide
experience in strategic planning, organisational
development and change and personnel. She has been a member
of the Judicial Appointments Board since 2002.
The panel is expected to report to the First Minister in
the Autumn.