Solicitor advocate among five new senator appointments
Five new judges) have been appointed to the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary.
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC, Jonathan Lake QC, John Scott QC, Michael Stuart QC, and Andrew Young QC will all take up appointment on 16 May 2022.
Sheriff Drummond was an assistant parliamentary counsel before calling at the bar in 1998. She became a QC in 2011 after acting as standing junior to the Advocate General and Scottish Ministers. She sat as a part-time sheriff from 2009 and was appointed resident sheriff in Dundee in 2014, and commercial sheriff in 2017. She has been a Justice of Appeal for St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha since 2015 and has served as an Appeal Sheriff and a Temporary High Court Judge since 2020.
Mr Lake has been in practice at the bar since 1994 and took silk in 2008. While junior counsel he was part of the team in the Lockerbie prosecution. More recently he has been senior counsel to Lord Hardie’s inquiry into the Edinburgh tram project. As an advocate he has also been instructed in many cases in the fields of commercial law, construction law and intellectual property law.
Mr Scott qualified as a solicitor in 1987, He obtained criminal rights of audience as a solicitor advocate in 2001 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2011, specialising in criminal law and, latterly, public inquiries. He has chaired the Scottish Human Rights Centre, the Howard League for Penal Reform and Justice Scotland, and served as President of the Society of Solicitor Advocates. He has also chaired several independent reviews, including stop and search, biometrics in policing, and the panel that recommended a pardon for miners convicted of certain offences during the 1984-85 strike. He has chaired the Scottish Mental Health Law Review since May 2019 and will complete that work with a final report to ministers in September 2022.
Mr Stuart called to the Scottish bar in 2003 following a career in business. He served as a full time advocate depute from 2009 until 2012, and qualified as a mediator with Core Solutions Group in 2015. He has served as standing junior counsel to the Scottish Government. Appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2017, he has worked across a wide range of criminal and civil matters.
Mr Young was called to the bar in 1992. He has served as standing junior counsel to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, HM Customs & Excise and HM Revenue & Customs. Appointed Queen's Counsel in 2007, he has been a part time chairman of the Police Appeals Tribunal since 2013 and a part time chairman of the Competition Appeals Tribunal since 2021. He is the co-author of a textbook on Commission & Diligence, and has contributed to two editions of Gloag & Henderson on The Law of Scotland.
The appointments were made by the Queen, on the recommendation of First Minister, following a report by the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland.