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SCTS is a judicially-led public body, with the composition of the Board set in statute. Chaired by the Lord President, Scotland’s most senior judge, its membership is drawn from those holding judicial office, those with a legal background and independent members from outwith the justice system.
The SCTS Board sets the strategic direction of SCTS, makes the key decisions and monitors progress to ensure the delivery of strategic priorities. The Board is supported by four committees covering audit and risk, people, remuneration, and estates, health and safety, fire and security. Each of the committees oversees major projects and programmes relevant to its area, providing specialist direction and guidance to ensure effective project and programme management at a strategic level.
The Rt Hon Lord Pentland has been a judge of Scotland’s Supreme Courts (the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary) since 2008. He has presided over a number of high-profile criminal trials as well as significant civil cases and has been an appeal court judge since 2020.
Between 2014 and 2018 he was chairman of the Scottish Law Commission, the country’s independent law reform body.
Lord Pentland was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1982 and became a Queen’s Counsel in 1995. He served as an Advocate Depute (Crown prosecutor in the High Court) between 1991 and 1994.
In 1995, he was appointed Solicitor-General for Scotland and held this office until the general election in 1997. He then returned to practice at the Bar, specialising in commercial law and public law.
Earlier in his career, Lord Pentland was standing junior counsel to the Department of the Environment in Scotland. He also held appointments as Chairman of the Police Appeals Tribunal and as Chairman of the Appeal Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Between April 2001 and May 2002, he was Chairman of the Public Inquiry into a serious incident of limestone mining subsidence in the Gilmerton area of Edinburgh.
The Rt Hon Lord Beckett was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Courts in May 2016 after serving as a temporary judge from 2008 in the High Court and the Court of Session. He was elevated to the Inner House in July 2023
He is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh and was admitted as a solicitor in 1986, working in private practice before being admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1993.
He was appointed an advocate depute in 2003 and became a Queen's Counsel in 2005. He served as Principal Advocate Depute and then Solicitor General for Scotland in 2006.
He became a sheriff in 2008 and was appointed as an appeal sheriff on the establishment of the Sheriff Appeal Court in 2015.
Lady Wise is the President of Scottish Tribunals. She was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Courts in February 2013.
She qualified as a solicitor in 1989 and worked in general civil litigation. She called to the bar in 1993 and practised in civil work, specialising in family law. In 2005 she became Queen’s Counsel and from 2008 sat part time as a temporary judge until she was appointed as a Senator of the College of Justice. She was a judge of the Employment Appeal Tribunal for three years until December 2018.
She has served as one of the two Family Court judges in the Court of Session and is a member of the Hague Network of Judges dealing with International Child Abduction cases.
Malcolm Graham was appointed as SCTS Chief Executive in July 2024 and was formerly Deputy Chief Constable of Police Scotland. Malcolm leads the organisation and the Executive Team, is responsible for circa 2000 staff based in 51 distinct locations across Scotland and leads the delivery of all of the services SCTS provides.
Aisha Anwar was appointed Sheriff Principal of South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway in April, 2020.
She was appointed as a part-time sheriff in 2011 and a resident sheriff at Glasgow Sheriff Court in 2014 and has been a designated family law and commercial law sheriff. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh (LLB Hons) in 1996 and from the University of Oxford (Bachelor of Civil Law) in 1998.
She was admitted as a solicitor in 2000. From 2009 to 2012 she became a partner and head of litigation for Scotland in a global law firm. She co-authored the Civil Bench Book for Sheriffs on behalf of the Judicial Institute and was previously appointed to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service Board in 2018. She was appointed to the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland in 2021.
Sheriff Principal Anwar and has been heavily involved in the reform of the summary criminal proceedings in the sheriff court and currently serves on the Summary Case Management Pilot Board. In 2017, she provided a letter to the children involved in a contact dispute (Patrick v Patrick), which explained her decision in plain simple language. It was praised by those working in family law, and featured in a performance of Letters Live during the Edinburgh International Festival.
Sheriff Pasportnikov has been the resident sheriff at Elgin following her appointment in 2015. A graduate of the University of Dundee, she was admitted as a solicitor in 1991. After training at Balfour and Manson, she worked in private practice, latterly specialising in Family Law at Russel and Aitken. She worked at the Law Society of Scotland in Client Relations from 1998 to 2003. From 2003 she worked with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service until her appointment to the bench. She was formerly the Convenor of the Fife Young Carers Management Committee.
Summary Sheriff Gill was appointed as a Summary Sheriff in Tayside, Central and Fife in October 2021. He moved to a resident post at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in March 2024. He trained at Drummond Miller and was then a solicitor in private practice for more than 20 years including as a partner in Anderson Strathern and Kennedys Scotland. He has an LLB and an LLM in Human Rights Law both from the University of Strathclyde. Prior to his appointment as a Summary Sheriff, he was the Honorary Consul for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Scotland. Summary Sheriff Gill is a former Board Member of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.
Anne Scott was appointed as President of the Tax Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland in 2017. She is a graduate of the University of Aberdeen. She was based in Aberdeen until 2011 and at various stages she had been a partner in Brander & Cruickshank WS, and a tax partner in Arthur Young and latterly Ernst & Young. She was a non-executive Board member of Aberdeen Royal Hospital NHS Trust and a Board member of Aberdeen Harbour Board and a governor of the Robert Gordon University. She has also been a non-executive director of other companies. She has been a Judge in the Social Entitlement Chamber of the UK First-tier Tribunal from 1995 until 2022 and a legal member of the Council Tax Reduction Review Panel from 2013 until 2022. She is still a legal member of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland and a Judge in the UK First-tier Tribunal Tax Chamber.
Dr Caddick was appointed as a JP on the Inverness Bench in 2018. He holds a first degree, 3 masters degrees and a PhD and was awarded the MBE in 1995. In his earlier career he served as a Wing Commander in the RAF, worked as the Head of Skills Development for a regional development agency and spent a decade running his own management consultancy business specialising in organisational development and human resource management. He recently retired from his academic career as a lecturer in strategic leadership and management at the University of the Highlands and Islands Business School. He is a part-time member of the RAF Reserve and has been mobilised to serve on operations in Afghanistan, as part of the military response to Covid19 in Scotland and more recently as a United Nations Liaison Officer in Korea.
Ruth M Innes KC was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 2005 and took silk in 2018. A graduate of the University of Aberdeen, she has specialised in family law throughout her career. She has been appointed as senior counsel to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry with responsibility for the foster care case study. She is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers.
Lynsey Walker is Partner and Solicitor Advocate of the firm of Addleshaw Goddard LLP. She is a commercial litigator, specialising in banking and insolvency litigation. She heads the firm's Finance Litigation team in Scotland and is a ranked lawyer in this field (Chambers 2021). Lynsey is a Graduate of the University of Edinburgh and was previously a Board Member of the Law Society of Scotland. In 2013, Lynsey qualified as a Solicitor Advocate with extended rights of audience in civil cases.
Steven Dickson retired from BT in 2021 after 32 years where he held various senior positions in sales operations, finance and revenue assurance. During his career he led BT’s global contract assurance program, leading large diverse teams across the world, providing risk based financial assurance for large multinational organisations. He has a keen interest in pensions, environmental issues, employee relations, reward, equality, diversity and inclusion. Steven is also a member of the board of the Scottish Water and the Armed Forces Pay Review Body.
Maggie spent all her executive career in the financial services industry most recently spending 9 years at the Financial Conduct Authority. Alongside her day job at the FCA, Maggie regularly lectured on financial services regulation at Glasgow College and Heriot Watt University.
Maggie sits on the Independent Governance Committee for the Phoenix Group’s workplace pensions and is Chair of Children 1st. Scotland’s national children’s charity. She is an external examiner for the Financial Services and Regulation Skills module of the Diploma at The University of Edinburgh Law School and is an honorary Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. Maggie has been active on Diversity and Inclusion issues for several years with particular focus on mental health issues in part because she lives with a significant mental health condition.
Dr Sophie Flemig is the Chief Executive of Cattanach, an independent funder supporting work with infants and very young children. Prior to this, she was the Director of Public Policy at the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, and the Assistant Director at the Centre for Service Excellence, University of Edinburgh Business School. Dr Flemig has researched and published on service management, co-production, and the use of digital in public services, including legal services, at different UK universities. Her career started in consultancy, specialising in change management and digitalisation projects across Europe and North America. She is particularly interested in how we can overcome inequalities and power imbalances to allow vulnerable service users a position as equals in public service design and delivery. A graduate of Brasenose College, University of Oxford, Dr Flemig holds a BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (2006) and an M.Phil in Politics (2008) from this institution, as well as a PhD in Political Science and Public Policy from the University of Toronto. She is due to graduate with an LLB from the University of London in 2020, which she has been pursuing part-time alongside her career.