Three new members have been appointed to the Scottish Civil Justice Council for a three-year term. These appointments fill two vacancies for practising solicitor members to the Council and one Lord President member (Judge).
The appointments of Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown, Iain MacRae and Nicola Irvine were formally made by the Lord President on 25 January 2023 following an open and competitive recruitment exercise in consultation with the Scottish Ministers.
Sheriff Martin-Brown was appointed as a sheriff in Dundee in 2019, having served as a summary sheriff since 2016. A graduate of the University of Aberdeen, she was a solicitor in private practice for six years and an advocate for six years. As a solicitor, she represented the Scottish Prison Service at Fatal Accident Inquiries throughout Scotland. At the Bar, she developed particular expertise in the fields of personal injury and medical negligence. She was appointed as Standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Government and served as an ad-hoc Advocate Depute. As a summary sheriff, she had particular responsibility for the Problem Solving Court in Forfar. She was appointed as a commercial sheriff in 2020.
Mr MacRae graduated from the University of Dundee before undertaking a court based traineeship at Munro & Noble, Inverness. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1992 returning to his native Dundee in 1993. He has been a partner of Gilmartin Finlay MacRae since 1995. On qualifying, his practice was a mix of civil and criminal work but he has concentrated on civil court work since about 2005. Mr MacRae undertakes a mix of private and legally aided cases and covers a broad range of matters from Simple Procedure to the Sheriff Appeal Court. He has been a tutor in Civil Court Practice and Advocacy on the University of Dundee Diploma in Legal Practice course since 1995. He has been a Course leader and lecturer for both this and the Advanced Advocacy Elective Course since 2011.He was appointed as a Legal Member of the Local Taxation Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal on 1 November 2022.
Ms Irvine is the managing partner of Russells Gibson McCaffrey. She has over 20 years’ experience as a litigator in the Sheriff Court, undertaking civil and criminal work. In recent years, she has expanded her practice into regulatory work and is regularly instructed by other solicitors of regulatory matters. She is a former Dean of the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow. She sits as a legal member in two chambers of the First tier Tribunal for Scotland.
The Chair of the Council, the Lord President, Lord Carloway, said: “I would like to welcome all three members to the Council. I am confident that the Council will benefit from their wealth of knowledge and expertise”.
If you have an interest in joining the Council or its respective Committees please send a note of interest to the Secretariat SCJC@scotcourts.gov.uk to be added to our register of interest and notified of any future vacancies.