Walter Mercer appointed summary sheriff

Walter Mercer was appointed to the new judicial office of summary sheriff which has been created to deal with some types of civil and criminal cases in the sheriff court.

Mr Mercer has been working as a part-time sheriff since 2011 and has been a member of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland for nine years, holding a shrieval post for the last five.

He was an advocate between 2000 and 2014 and was appointed as an ad-hoc advocate depute in 2002. Mr Mercer is a graduate of the Universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

He was nominated by the First Minister for the post on the basis of a report by the independent Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland.