The Lord President has announced the appointment of members to the Scottish Civil Justice Council, established today under the Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance Act 2013.
The Council replaces the existing Court of Session Rules Council and the Sheriff Court Rules Council. It will take over the rule drafting functions of those bodies and will also have a new, wider, role to advise and make recommendations on the civil justice system.
The composition of the council is provided for by section 6 of Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance Act 2013.
The Act states that the Lord President is to appoint at least 4 judicial, 2 advocate, 2 solicitor, 2 consumer representative members and may appoint up to 6 LP members (these are appointments made at the Lord President’s discretion).The Lord President, the Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service and the principal officer of the Scottish Legal Aid Board are members of the Council by virtue of their respective offices. One member of Scottish Government staff is appointed by the Scottish Ministers.
Judicial, advocate, solicitor, consumer representative members and LP members hold office for three years.
The Lord President, The Right Honourable Lord Gill, said:
“I am delighted to announce the appointment of members of the Scottish Civil Justice Council. The new Council will be responsible for delivering vital improvements to the civil justice system.
Each member will bring valuable skills and personal experience to the Council and I am confident that collectively, will be more than capable of meeting the significant task ahead in the implementation of the forthcoming civil courts reforms.
An open and competitive recruitment exercise was held for the non-judicial members and I am grateful to all those who applied.”
List of Council members:
The Lord President
Mr Eric McQueen, Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service
Mr Lindsay Montgomery CBE, Chief Executive SLAB
Miss Jan Marshall, Scottish Ministers’ appointee
Lord Menzies (judicial member)
Lord Tyre (judicial member)
Sheriff Principal Stephen (judicial member)
Sheriff Abercrombie (judicial member)
Mr James Wolffe QC (Advocate member)
Mrs Sarah Wolffe QC (Advocate member)
Mr Eric Baijal (Solicitor member)
Mr Duncan Murray (Solicitor member)
Mr Ian Maxwell (Consumer representative member)
Miss Lauren Wood (Consumer representative member)
Mr Joseph d'Inverno (LP member)
Professor Frances Wasoff (LP member)
The Scottish Civil Justice Council website is now live and can be accessed here: www.scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk, where further information on the Council members is available.
About the Civil Justice Council
The Scottish Civil Justice Council replaces the existing Court of Session Rules Council and the Sheriff Court Rules Council. The new Council will take over the rule drafting functions of those bodies and will also have a new, wider, role to advise and make recommendations on the civil justice system.
The creation of a single civil rules council for Scotland was one of the recommendations of the Scottish Civil Courts Review. Many of the review recommendations will need new rules of court and the Scottish Civil Justice Council, which will have oversight of the entire civil justice system, will be responsible for taking these forward. It will also be responsible for keeping the civil justice system under constant review.
www.scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk
For further information please contact: Ondine Tennant / scjc@scotcourts.gov.uk / 0131 240 6769