Alistair Duff
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Alistair John MacKenzie Duff (born 1954) is a former Scottish advocate and sheriff who later became Director of the Judicial Institute of Scotland before resigning after being arrested and charged with undisclosed offences.


Personal life

Duff was born in
Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...
,
Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...
in 1954 and moved to Glenrothes where he attended secondary school at
Glenwood High School, Glenrothes Glenwood High School is a comprehensive, co-educational and non-denominational school serving the western part of the town of Glenrothes, Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county ...
then to Glenrothes High School where both his father and uncle were teachers. In 1971 he went to Edinburgh Law School where he graduated with first class honours. He married Carol Ferguson in April 1978 in Edinburgh, with whom he had five children. They divorced in 2007 and in the same year he married his current wife Susan Duff. Susan Duff was a defence advocate at Compass Chambers in Edinburgh, subsequently appointed a Sheriff in October 2021 for Tayside, Central and Fife regions.


Legal career

* Alistair Duff was admitted as a solicitor in 1977 and worked as a procurator fiscal between 1977 and 1981 * He was in private practice as a solicitor specialising in criminal defence between 1981 and 2004 * He qualified as a solicitor-advocate with criminal rights of audience in 1993 and conducted cases before the High Court of Justiciary * He was engaged to advise the two Libyan nationals accused in the
Lockerbie Lockerbie (, gd, Locarbaidh) is a small town in Dumfries and Galloway, south-western Scotland. It is about from Glasgow, and from the border with England. The United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census recorded its population as 4,009. The town ...
case in 1993 and subsequently represented Abdelbaset al-Megrahi at the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial in the Netherlands between 1999 and 2002 * He was appointed Resident Sheriff in the Sheriff Court of Dundee in 2004 * In 2007 he was appointed to the
Scottish Prisons Commission The Scottish Prisons Commission was a commission established by the Scottish Government in 2007 to "analyse the impact for courts, prisons and community justice services of early release provisions contained in the Custodial Sentences and Weapo ...
alongside
Henry McLeish Henry Baird McLeish (born 15 June 1948) is a Scottish politician, author and academic who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2000 to 2001. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Fife from ...
, Lesley Riddoch, Dr
Karin Dotter-Schiller Karin may refer to: * Karin (given name), a feminine name Fiction * ''Karin'' (manga) or ''Chibi Vampire'', a Japanese media franchise * Karin Hanazono, title character of the manga and anime ''Kamichama Karin'' * Karin Kurosaki, a character in ' ...
, Geraldine Gammell, Richard Jeffrey and Chief Constable David Strang * He became involved in judicial training in 2011 and was appointed Director of the Judicial Institute for Scotland in 2014. The Institute provides education and training for Scottish judges in all aspects of Scots Law. In his role of Director he attended many high level conferences concerning judicial reform in Scotland and Europe. * In 2016 he gave a presentation to National Youth Justice Conference organised by the Children and Young Peoples Centre for Justice * In 2019 he was appointed to a tribunal alongside
Lord Bracadale Alastair Peter Campbell, Lord Bracadale, KC is a retired senior Scottish judge. Early life Campbell was born on 18 September 1949 in Skye, Scotland, to Rev. Donald Campbell and Margaret Campbell. His family moved to Edinburgh when he was tw ...
and others to look into the case of Aberdeen Sheriff Jack Brown concerning alleged sexual misconduct, the tribunal's findings were later overturned. * He has formerly been a member of the following bodies: - ** Law Society of Scotland Council **
Scottish Sentencing Council The Scottish Sentencing Council is an advisory non-departmental public body in Scotland that produces sentencing guidelines for use in the High Court of Justiciary, sheriff courts and justice of the peace courts. Judges, sheriffs, and justic ...
** McInnes Committee on Summary Justice Reform In December 2021 he abruptly retired from the Judicial Institute for Scotland following his arrest in October 2021.


Arrest

He was arrested and charged in December 2021 following a complaint made in October 2021 and was due to appear in court, though as of March 2023 this is yet to happen, and the nature of the charges have not been revealed. Concerns about the apparent secrecy surrounding the case were expressed in various quarters, including Member of Scottish Parliament Russell Findlay who submitted two written questions to the
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...
asking for the publication of ministerial correspondence relating to Duff's arrest and resignation and legal advice received in ruling against the MSP, all of which were rejected. In November 2022 following further police investigations, Duff was arrested and charged with a further offence.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duff, Alistair Scottish lawyers 1954 births Living people