Five solicitor sheriffs appointed from January

Five new sheriffs, all with solicitor backgrounds, have been appointed to take up office in the new year.

Frances McCartney and Andrew McIntyre have been appointed to the Sheriffdom of North Strathclyde, to be based at Paisley Sheriff Court and Greenock Sheriff Court respectively; in the Sheriffdom of Grampian, Highland & Islands, Christine McCrossan will be based at Peterhead Sheriff Court, Gary George Aitken will be a floating sheriff based at Inverness Sheriff Court, and Ian Hay Cruickshank has been appointed on a part-time basis, based at Lerwick Sheriff Court.

Ms McCartney, a graduate of the University of Strathclyde, also has a LLM in Human Rights. She practised in Paisley before becoming chief solicitor with Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park Authority. She rejoined private practice, latterly with Campbell & McCartney solicitors, also sitting as a member of the Parades Commission in Northern Ireland and a judge for the First-tier Tribunal, Immigration & Asylum Chamber. She is currently a summary sheriff in Glasgow Sheriff Court as well as a judge for the First-tier Tribunal, Social Security Entitlement.

Mr McIntyre, a solicitor advocate with criminal rights of audience, graduated from the University of Glasgow and trained with the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service. As a prosecutor, he has undertaken a number of roles across Scotland as well as being seconded to the Commission for Racial Equality (as it then was) and Lord Carloway’s review of aspects f criminal procedure in Scotland. He was appointed a summary sheriff in April 2016.

A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Mr Aitken also trained with COPFS and became a procurator fiscal depute in 1997. He served as district procurator fiscal in Wick and then Inverness before becoming deputy head of the High Court division and then head of the health and safety division, both specialist posts within COPFS. Since July 2017 he has been assistant procurator fiscal, Grampian, Highland & Islands.

After graduating from the University of Aberdeen, Mr Cruickshank trained and practised with Grigor & Young, Elgin, and then established The Cruickshank Law Practice in Elgin where he is currently senior partner. A solicitor advocate with criminal rights of audience, he is currently convener of the Criminal Law Committee of the Law Society of Scotland. In 2014 he was appointed as a member of the reference group to Lord Bonomy’s Post-Corroboration Safeguards Review, and he is currently a member of the reference group to Lord Bracadale’s Independent Hate Crime Review.

Ms McCrossan graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 1983, trained and began her career with the prosecution service before working in London as a commercial solicitor. She then practised in Aberdeen before setting up her own practice specialising in employment law and personal injury. She qualified as a solicitor advocate in 2005. She was appointed a part time senior teaching fellow in employment law at the University of Aberdeen in 2010, and is currently a summary sheriff in Aberdeen.

The appointments, which come into effect on 15 January 2018, were made by the Queen on the recommendation of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, following a report by the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland.