Four advocates take silk and sheriff appointed QC

Four advocates – Roisin Higgins, Dr Kirsty Hood,Shelagh McCall and Dr Joseph Morrow – have taken silk after being approved by Her Majesty for “the rank and dignity” of Queen’s Counsel.

The new silks, except Ms McCall who was in Campbeltown, were welcomed by Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Carloway at a ceremony marking the start of the legal year in the First Division courtroom in Parliament House.

Sheriff Kenneth Maciver was also appointed a QC.

He said: “For each of you, the rank and dignity of Queen’s Counsel is hard-earned and well deserved. I wish you the best of good fortune in this new chapter of your respective careers.”

Ms Higgins joined Faculty in 2000 after two years as a solicitor, and has pursued a practice in commercial litigation with a special interest in intellectual property. She is a committee member of The Intellectual Property Lawyers Organisation (TIPLO) and chairs the Faculty’s World Intellectual Property Day Conference.

Dr Hood called in 2001 and has established a varied civil practice with particular expertise in cross-border issues, such as questions of jurisdiction and recognition of judgments. It is the field in which she obtained her PhD and she is the author of Conflict of Laws within the UK. In October 2014 she was elected Clerk of Faculty, the first woman to hold the office.

Ms McCall is an Edinburgh University graduate and practised as a solicitor for several years before becoming a member of Faculty in 2000. She has been a part-time sheriff, a Commissioner of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, and a member of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland. She was formerly Appeals Counsel in the Office of the Prosecutor at the UN International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Netherlands.

Dr Morrow joined Faculty in 2000 and became a non-practising member in 2007. A holder of degrees in theology and law, and a student of heraldry for more than 30 years, he was appointed Lord Lyon King of Arms in January 2014. He is also President of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland.