Brian Gill, Lord Gill, (born 25 February 1942) is a retired

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 ...

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, and as Chairman of the Scottish Law Commission from 1996 to 2001. As an

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, ...

, he practised principally in agricultural law and is the author of ''The Law of Agricultural Holdings in Scotland''. In 2007–2009, Gill undertook a far-reaching review of the civil courts system in Scotland, recommending a shift of much of the workload 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 Edinburgh ...

to Scotland's local sheriff courts.

Education

Gill was born in Glasgow and educated at St Aloysius' College, an independent

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

school in the city. He studied at the School of Law of the University of Glasgow (M.A., LL.B.), where he was a member of the Glasgow University Union and

Dialectic Society Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing ...

, and at Edinburgh where he gained his PhD in 1975 and lectured in the

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

from 1964 until 1977. He was awarded Honorary Degrees by Glasgow University in 1998 (LL.D.), Edinburgh University in 2007, and the University of Abertay,

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, in 2008 (LL.D.).

Career

He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1967 and appointed Queen's Counsel in 1981. He was called to the English Bar (

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.) Lincoln ...

) in 1991. Lord Gill was 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 S ...

from 1977 to 1979, and standing Junior Counsel to the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

(1974–77), the Home Office (1979–81) and the Scottish Education Department (1979–81). He has been a member of the Scottish Legal Aid Board and the Scottish Valuation Advisory Council and Deputy Chairman of the Copyright Tribunal. Gill was appointed 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 Session); ...

in 1994, and was Chairman of the Scottish Law Commission from 1996 until 2001. Lord Gill was appointed Lord Justice Clerk and President of the Second Division of the Inner House of the

in November 2001. From 1987 to 1994 he was Keeper of the Advocates' Library and a Trustee of the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...

. He is the author of ''The Law of Agricultural Holdings in Scotland''. He retired as Lord President in May 2015. Since then he has sat on occasion as an acting judge of the

United Kingdom Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC or the acronym: SCOTUK) is the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom for all civil cases, and for criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As the United ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Brian 1942 births Living people Lawyers from Glasgow Members of the Faculty of Advocates Members of Lincoln's Inn Gill Scottish non-fiction writers Academics of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Glasgow Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People educated at St Aloysius' College, Glasgow

Education

Career

See also

References