Five new sheriffs appointed

Five new appointments to the bench across four sheriffdoms have been announced.

Lesley Dowdalls, Amel Elfallah, Roderick Flinn, Robert More and Charles Walls will take up office as sheriff between December 2023 and April 2024.

Roderick Flinn becomes a sheriff in Edinburgh from 1 December 2023. After working in private practice in Dumfries and Edinburgh, dealing with civil and criminal litigation, in 2002 he joined the Government Legal Service for Scotland, where he handled litigation work. From 2009 to 2013 he was head of Public Inquiries for the Scottish Government Legal Directorate. From 2013 to 2019 he was legal secretary to the Lord President. In 2019 he was appointed a summary sheriff for Lothian & Borders at Edinburgh.

Also from 1 December, Robert More takes up post in Kirkcaldy. On qualification as a solicitor in 2008, he joined George More & Co. He qualified as a criminal solicitor advocate in 2012 before establishing Robert More & Co in 2013. He was appointed a part-time sheriff in 2021.

Lesley Dowdalls joins the bench in Glasgow in 1 April 2024. An accredited specialist in both child and family law, she was a court practitioner in Ayrshire for 35 years. She has been a Scottish Legal Aid Board peer reviewer, and convener of the Law Society of Scotland's family and child law accreditation panels. She has been a legal member of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland since 2004, and of the Additional Support Needs Tribunal since 2015.

Also from 1 April, Charles Walls joins the bench in Edinburgh. After working for Simpson & Marwick, dealing primarily with personal injury and professional negligence litigation, in 2000 he joined Pinsent Masons and since then has worked predominantly in commercial dispute resolution. He qualified as a civil solicitor advocate in 2004. He is a contributing author to LexisPSL and from 2012 to 2019 lectured on the University of Strathclyde’s LLM in construction law.

Amel Elfallah becomes a sheriff in Paisley from 22 April 2024. After qualifying as a solicitor with Thompsons, working in personal injury litigation, she joined the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service in 2003, becoming a senior procurator fiscal depute in 2008. She has also specialised in equalities and training work, and has been a NITA-accredited advocacy trainer since 2008. She was appointed a summary sheriff in 2021, and a member of the Scottish Sentencing Council in July 2022.

The appointments were made by the King on the recommendation of First Minister Humza Yousaf, following a report by the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland.