Colin John MacLean Sutherland, Lord Carloway (born 20 May 1954), is a Scottish

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However ...

and

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

who has served as the Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General since 2015. He was previously Lord Justice Clerk from 2012 to 2015 and has been a

Senator of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court of Sessio ...

since 2000. Born in

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had ...

, Carloway studied at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

Law School A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

, where he earned a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

. In 1977, he was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates and served as an

Advocate Depute The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is the independent public prosecution service for Scotland, and is a Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. The department is headed by His Majesty's Lord Advocate, who under the ...

in the late 1980s. Before being nominated as a Judge in 2000, he served as the Treasurer of the Faculty of Advocates. As a Senator of the College of Justice he presided over the 2004 prosecution of gas transporter Transco and published the ''Carloway Review.'' In 2012,

Lord Gill Brian Gill, Lord Gill, (born 25 February 1942) is a retired Scottish judge and legal academic. He served as Lord President and Lord Justice General from June 2012 until May 2015. Gill previously served as Lord Justice Clerk from 2001 to 2012, ...

, who had served as the Lord Justice Clerk, was appointed the Lord President and Carloway succeeded him. Following the retirement of Gill, Carloway was nominated by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to succeed him. He was officially appointed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 18 December 2015, becoming the most senior judge in Scotland.

Early life

Colin John MacLean Sutherland was born on 20 May 1954 in

. Carloway was educated at Hurst Grange Preparatory School in Stirling and the Edinburgh Academy, before studying at the School of Law of the

( LL.B. (Hons.)).

Early career

Carloway was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1977, and appointed

in 1986, serving until 1989. He took silk in 1990 and was Treasurer of the Faculty of Advocates from 1994 to 2000. He was appointed to the

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1990.

Senator of the College of Justice

Sutherland was appointed a

, a judge of the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburg ...

and High Court of Justiciary, Scotland's

Supreme Courts A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, in February 2000. He took the judicial title, Lord Carloway, and was promoted to the Inner House of the Court of Session and appointed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

in 2008. He is an assistant editor of ''Green’s Litigation Styles'' and contributed the chapters on "Court of Session Practice" to the ''Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia'' and "Expenses" in ''Court of Session Practice''. Carloway presided over the 2004 prosecution of gas transporter Transco under health and safety legislation for an explosion in Larkhall in December 1999 which killed a family of four, fining the company a record £15m. Since 2008 he has been almost exclusively involved in appellate work as a member of the Second Division, one of the two appeal court chambers in Scotland, chaired by the Lord Justice Clerk. In October 2010, he was asked by the then Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to undertake a review of the Scottish criminal law following the decision by the UK Supreme Court in the case of

Cadder v HM Advocate ''Cadder v HM Advocate'' 010UKSC 43 (26 October 2010) is a decision in which the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom held that the way in which police in Scotland detained suspects was not compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights an ...

. The report was released in November 2011 and became known as the ''Carloway Review''.

Lord Justice Clerk; 2012–2015

Carloway was appointed Lord Justice Clerk on 15 August 2012.

Lord President and Lord Justice General; 2015–present

His appointment as Lord President and Lord Justice General was announced on 18 December 2015. In December 2022, as Lord President of the Court of Session, Carloway unveiled a plaque commemorating the 1778

Knight v. Wedderburn Joseph Knight (''fl.'' 1769–1778) was a man born in Guinea (the general name of West Africa) and there seized into slavery. It appears that the captain of the ship which brought him to Jamaica there sold him to John Wedderburn of Ballindean, S ...

case, which ruled that slavery was incompatible with Scots law.

Personal life

He married Jane Turnbull in 1988, with whom he has two sons. He was the joint editor of ''Parliament House Portraits: the Art Collection of the Faculty of Advocates'', and is a former president of the Scottish Arts Club. He is the lead vocalist in, and plays bass guitar for, the Faculty of Advocates band, The Reclaimers.

Honorary and fellowships

Carloway is an Honorary Bencher of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincol ...

in London and King's Inn in Dublin, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland, Colin, Lord Carloway Living people 1954 births Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 20th-century King's Counsel Carloway Carloway, Colin, Lord Members of the Faculty of Advocates Scottish King's Counsel People educated at Edinburgh Academy Lords President of the Court of Session Lords Justice Clerk