Remembering Fiona Raitt - a 'visionary' reformer and ground-breaking educator

Fiona Raitt is remembered for a lifetime of commitment to law reform, justice for women and educating the next generation of lawyers, write friends and colleagues including Dr. Suzanne Zeedyk, Eamon Keane and Sandy Brindley.

Fiona Elizabeth Raitt died on 8 Feb 2025, age 68, after a long illness.  She was born in the spring of 1956 in Perth - a community that was, like so many others, still negotiating its post-war identity.  Those early years of austerity yielded within her an unwavering dedication to justice for voices that too easily go unheard.

In 1978, Fiona would graduate from the University of Edinburgh with a Bachelor of Laws.  By 1983, only in her mid-20s, she was a founding partner of an explicitly feminist law firm in Dundee: Wilson & Raitt.  A decade later, in 1993, she took up an academic post at the University of Dundee as Director of the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice.  In 2005, she was promoted to Professor of Evidence and Social Justice, a title that aptly conveyed her core interests and concerns.  Her early retiral from the University came in 2014. 

Fiona’s list of publications was impressive.  It included seminal texts, such as The Law of Evidence in Scotland in 2001 and Evidence: Principles, Policy and Practice in 2008.  Reviewers were warm with their praise: “excellent”, “clear and concise”, “a wonderful contribution to the literature”.  Her co-authored book The Implicit Relation of Psychology and Law, published in 2000, was regarded by commentators as “finely crafted, ambitious and provocative”.  Dozens of academic papers accompanied these and other books, on topics including family law, domestic violence, rape and interviewing child witnesses.

Fiona was a whirlwind of energy.  During her two decades at the University of Dundee, she served on numerous committees and held the post of Head of Department for three years.  She was an enthusiastic volunteer for charities such as Rape Crisis, Women’s Aid and the Legal Advice Network.  Students were delighted when she was honoured with the Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching, the most prestigious teaching award made by the University.  It affirmed the vivacity and challenge they experienced in her classroom.

Within the Scottish Parliament, practical impacts of Fiona’s approach to legal reform can be seen unfolding right now.  In 2009, she wrote a landmark report for Rape Crisis Scotland, setting out the case for independent legal representation of complainers of sexual offences.  Legal reform takes time.  Almost 16 years later, a Bill is now being considered by the Parliament that introduces precisely such a right when attempts are made to introduce a complainer’s sexual history into a case.  No academic has done more to further the cause of women’s rights in Scottish sexual offences trials.  It seems especially important to note achievements such as this, for she wore her considerable professional identity and intellect exceedingly lightly.

Fiona’s insistence on social justice, especially for women, was inherited from her mother, who actively encouraged her daughter to avoid the limitations of rigid traditional gender roles.  That is why the dedication in one of her books reads: “To Elizabeth Craig Morrin, who shared with me her extraordinary sense of justice and lived her life by example.”

When Fiona was not busy inside, drafting documents to the accompaniment of opera recordings, she could be found outside having fun.  She adored Scottish terrain and preferred spending her holidays on home ground.  Her beloved dogs – Brandy, Callum and Sasha – clambered up hills with her, while her horses – Maxi, Folly and Toby – carried her safely over countless competitive cross-country fences.  It was a life for which Fiona had pined as a child, unable to pursue frequent riding lessons but possessing a small saddle her mother had acquired.  She spent hours in the back garden, having slung the heavy leather over the branches of a sturdy bush, riding out into the countryside in the company of two imaginary friends.  Once she had grown up, she was at liberty to pursue that passion, going on to complete a rigorous set of equestrian qualifications.  Her face beamed proudly with every eventing ribbon she won.

Eamon Keane, lecturer in Evidence and Criminal Procedure at the University of Glasgow, said: “Fiona was a remarkable educator. She brought to the lecture theatre or seminar room, an innate knowledge of the technical detail of her subject coupled with a passion for social justice and legal reform. This combination meant she was as at ease dealing with complicated evidential doctrines like corroboration and hearsay, as she was with feminist philosophy and theory. What might be easy to overlook was that she was a very able lawyer, who had practised before she became an academic and this informed her perspective and pedagogy  greatly. Her teaching had a lasting impact on me, and quite simply I would not be an academic myself had I not been fortunate enough to have been taught and supported by her as a law student. Her passing is a real loss to the Scottish legal academe and profession.”

Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, praised Fiona’s work with survivors of sexual offences: “Fiona was passionate about the potential of the law to contribute to positive change.  Her work on sexual offences was groundbreaking, particularly her 2009 report for Rape Crisis Scotland which set out the case for independent legal representation for complainers of sexual offences.  She cared deeply about improving the rights of victim-survivors of sexual offences.  Much of the current legal reform being considered in Scotland has its roots in her work.  She was visionary in her approach to law reform and leaves behind a considerable legacy.  Fiona was kind, compassionate, unassuming, and very supportive to her friends and colleagues. She will be greatly missed.”

Fiona leaves behind a large group of grieving friends, colleagues and loved ones.  Her abiding loyalty to them, and to their children, drew on a quiet, unassuming strength.  They recall that her determined approach to tackling societal barriers was much the same as the way she marched up Munros.  She, of course, would have preferred the term ‘Jessicas’, the affectionate title used by some female hillwalkers as a tribute to the women who had climbed Scottish mountains in the 19^th century, alongside the men who were then mapping them, but who had done so in long skirts fashioned from weighty fabric.  It was typical of Fiona to ensure that, even in her language choices, she was championing the neglected accomplishments of women.

She is now free from the constrictions imposed by her long illness.  One hopes there are soaring hills to be climbed in the landscape that lies on the other side of death.

An online Book of Condolence has been opened by colleagues.

Anyone who wishes to leave a memory is warmly encouraged to do so.

That will be a comfort to all who love and miss her. 

 https://www.dundee.ac.uk/stories/memoriam-professor-fiona-raitt