The new sheriffs will serve the Grampian, Highland and Islands, North Strathclyde, South Strathclyde, Dumfries & Galloway and Tayside, Central & Fife sheriffdoms from 28 October 2024.

Ms Johnston, to be based in Aberdeen, qualified as a solicitor in 2010 and as a solicitor advocate in 2016. She practised with Anderson Strathern and Kennedys prior to her appointment as a summary sheriff at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in 2021.

She is a graduate of University of Aberdeen, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow.

Ms Mundell, to be based in Dunoon, spent more than two decades working in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), including as head of the Scottish Fatalities Investigation Unit and deputy procurator fiscal for the national specialist casework division, before her appointment as a summary sheriff in 2021.

Initially based in Paisley, she has been a resident summary sheriff at Kilmarnock since December 2022. She is a graduate of the University of Glasgow.

Mr Sutherland, to be based in Stranraer, was a partner and head of civil litigation at Macnabs LLP before leaving private practice last year to sit exclusively as floating part-time summary sheriff in Tayside, Central and Fife.

He is a graduate of the University of Aberdeen and the University of Dundee.

Mr Ralph, a new floating sheriff in Tayside, Central and Fife, is a criminal law specialist who has worked with Perth firm Ward & Co since 1997. He became a criminal peer reviewer with the Scottish Legal Aid Board in 2014.

He is a graduate of the University of Aberdeen.

All four new sheriffs have been appointed by the King on the recommendation of the first minister following a report by the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland.