Thirteen new Queen's Counsel named

Thirteen new Queen’s Counsel have been appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the First Minister.

Twelve advocates hve been awarded the status: Ashley Edwards, Lisa Henderson, Steven Love, Ross Macfarlane, Euan MacKenzie, Marcus McKay, Douglas Ross, Morag Ross, Kay Springham, Lauren Sutherland, Susanne Tanner and Steven Walker, along with Iain McSporran, solicitor advocate.

Nominations to the First Minister were made by the Lord Justice General, Lord Carloway, after consulting other judges, the Lord Advocate, the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates and the President of the Law Society of Scotland.

An independent observer, Heather Baillie, provided the First Minster with a separate report on her findings on the process. It discloses that 23 advocates and eight solicitor advocates applied to become Queen's Counsel. The number of advocates was in line with recent years, but more solicitor advocates applied, though only one was appointed.

Ms Baillie records that after discussing the applications and recommendations with the Lord Justice General and Lord Justice Clerk, she was "satisfied that the reasoning and decision making in relation to all candidates was robust and consistent with the guidance and criteria for recommendation".