One new face among five Glasgow winners in Society Council elections

One new face and four returning members will represent Glasgow solicitors on the Law Society of Scotland’s Council, following this month's contested election.

Emma Crilley, a solicitor at Anderson Strathern, has won the seat vacated by Alison Atack, who stands down as President on 31 May. She joins David Mair, Anne MacDonald, Austin Lafferty and Ross Yuill, who were all returned for a further term on Council from the nine candidates who contested the constituency. 

Euan Mitchell, General Counsel at Castlewater Ltd, is the only new Council member to be elected unopposed and will take up the Perth seat. Former Perth member Amanda Millar will have a seat on Council as the Society's Vice President from the end of May and President the following year.

In the other uncontested elections, Waqqas Ashraf was returned in the Greenock, Kilmarnock & Paisley constituency, as was Gwen Haggerty in Cupar, Dunfermline & Kirkcaldy. There remains one seat vacant in both those constituencies due to Simon Brown and Susan Williams standing down.

In-house lawyers now have co-conveners after joint candidates Vlad Valiente and Sheekha Saha beat David Bryson in the contest to lead the In-house Lawyers' Committee. As such they will also take a seat on Council representing in-house lawyers. Ms Saha has been a constituency member for the Highlands & Islands since 2006.

Lorna Jack, chief executive of the Society, commented: "I’d like to extend my congratulations to all new and returning Council members. As our principal governing body, our Council has responsibility for the overall governance of the Law Society and our Council members play a really important part in that. Our elected solicitor members also bring the views and perspectives of their constituents to that role.

"In a Law Society first, we have also elected co-conveners to a committee, with Vlad and Sheekha winning the in-house lawyers' election. Congratulations to them and I am sure they will do a great job of leading the committee and representing the in-house community on our Council. I’d also like to express my thanks to all candidates who stood for election, and for the interest they have shown in the Society."