SLAB's Iain Robertson to retire at end of month

Iain Robertson CBE retires at the end of March as chairman of the Scottish Legal Aid Board.

His 10 years in office have seen increasing restrictions on the legal aid budget, at the same time as SLAB’s role has grown to include grant funding programmes on money advice and access to justice, employed civil solicitors, the expansion of the Public Defence Solicitors Office, statutory monitoring duties covering access to legal services in general, among other things.

His successor is expected to be announced shortly.

Paying tribute to Mr Robertson's "excellent public service", Paul Wheelhouse, Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs, said:

"Iain’s broad experience across the public, private and voluntary sectors has been invaluable in overseeing the effective operation of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, a key body in our justice system.

"The legal aid system has been through significant reform over the last 10 years and Iain has been instrumental in that process, holding a leadership role with a passion for ensuring that changes to legal aid are progressive and that they protect access to justice.

"I and my colleagues in the Scottish Government very much value the significant role that Iain has played in promoting access to justice in Scotland and wish him all the best for the future."

Colin Lancaster, chief executive of SLAB, added: "Iain brought his extensive experience as a lawyer, as a chief executive and from many other senior and voluntary roles to his chairmanship, which has been a great benefit to SLAB and the legal aid system in Scotland over the past decade.

"He has been a source of wise counsel and support, both to me in my early days as chief executive and to the rest of the executive team over the years.

“Iain has provided excellent guidance that has helped steer us through a period of much change and reform. On behalf of everyone at SLAB, I wish him all the best for his retirement."