NEWS

Lord Sandison, Lady Haldane and Lord Richardson will take up their appointments on 1 March 2021.

The Lord President, Lord Carloway, welcomed the news senators.

He told Lord Sandison: “You graduated from the University of Aberdeen and then gained a Diploma in Forensic Medicine from Glasgow. Your enthusiasm for academia undimmed, you then obtained a Masters and PhD from Cambridge University. After calling to the bar in 1996, you developed an extensive civil practice encompassing commercial, corporate, intellectual property with the occasional foray into defamation. You became Queen’s Counsel in 2009. You also have the distinction of being the only Scots lawyer to have represented a client before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. By appearing for the appellant in the remitted appeal in Campbell v Dugdale in April 2020, you were the first Advocate to appear before the Divisions by video link. You have then first-hand experience of the way in which the judges of the court service have adapted rapidly to change. I therefore offer the court’s congratulations on this major step in your legal career and its best wishes for the future.”

He told Lady Haldane: “As a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, you passed Advocate in 1996, excelling across a broad spectrum of the civil law, notably in professional negligence, commercial, complex personal injury and public law matters. You took silk in 2010. You served for six years as an ad hoc Advocate Depute, as well as a Standing Junior to the Forestry Commission and the Home Secretary. Your experience in administrative roles within the Faculty of Advocates will prove useful in dealing with the practicalities of judicial work in the Outer House. A broad practice in civil matter together with a sound knowledge of criminal law and procedure will stand you in good stead for the years ahead. These are difficult times which have required extraordinary measures. I am confident that, with your skills and experience, you will be a major asset to the bench. Congratulations, once again. The court wishes you well in this new chapter of your legal career.”

He told Lord Richardson: “You have a law degree from the University of Edinburgh, and a Masters from the University of Leiden, an institution with historic intellectual links to the study and practice of law in Scotland. In your years as a solicitor, you gained valuable experience working at the European Commission. After passing advocate in 2004, you developed a specialism in commercial and tax law, but were also instructed in some of those high profile criminal appeals in which Scots criminal law and procedure has embraced human rights convention norms. Your talents secured appointments, first, as a standing junior to the Scottish Ministers and, then, the same appointment by the Advocate General. Of particular importance, you have served with distinction as an Advocate Depute, prosecuting serious crime, during which time you took silk in 2017. Although that was not very long ago, you are to be congratulated on your appointment as a Senator. The court wishes you a long and distinguished judicial career.”

22 February 2021