The Lord President has appointed Sheriff Lesley Johnston as a sheriff member to the SCJC.

Sheriff Johnston was appointed as a sheriff in Aberdeen in 2024, having served as a summary sheriff there since 2021.

A graduate of the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, she was a solicitor for over ten years acting on behalf of a range of clients across a wide variety of civil disputes.  Between 2013 and 2015 she was the Law Clerk to the Lord President.  In 2016 she gained extended rights of audience (civil).  Between 2017 and 2021 she sat as a Legal Member of the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber). Between 2009 and 2021, she was a part-time tutor at the University of Edinburgh on the family law and latterly, delict undergraduate courses.

 The appointment will last for three years.