Nicola Sturgeon secretly selected Lord Caroway for the post of Lord President of Scotland’s judges
Despite significant speculation during 2015 that Lady Dorrian would be appointed to the top judicial post, the unpredicted shift away from a male only top judge did not happen.
The Scottish Government refused to disclose any information relating to any of the candidates for the top job, citing privacy concerns.
But written exchanges between civil servants and the selection panel revealed a short listing meeting had been held on 1 September 2015 and the panel, which included Lady Dorrian considered that only two applicants Lord Carloway and [Redacted] merited an interview on the basis of the quality of their applications.
The panel agreed that given the level of appointment, candidates needed to be able to demonstrate that they met the criteria to an exceptional degree.
The content of the selection panel’s report recommending Lord Carloway for the nomination of Lord President, was withheld by the Scottish Government.
Nicola Sturgeon decided on Lord Carloway’s nomination as Lord President around 18 November 2015 and his appointment was finally made public in December 2015.
A selection panel, including Lord Carloway was convened by Nicola Sturgeon in January 2016 to interview candidates to select a candidate for the position of Lord Justice Clerk.
Lady Dorrian (58) was selected by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and became the first ever first female judge appointed to the position of Lord Justice Clerk the second most powerful judge in Scotland. She took up her appointment as Lord Justice Clerk on 26 April 2016 on a salary in excess of £200k
public comments:
If this had been two politicians sitting on the same committee each giving each other their old job the media would be all over it
Am I reading this correctly Lady Dorrian recommended Lord Carloway for Lord President and Lord Carloway recommended Lady Dorrian for Lord Justice Clerk? Is this not a little conflicting interests at the least?
I was never really impressed with talk of a female Lord President during 2015. A female First Minister would not get along with a female Lord President who effectively holds more power than the FM herself.
something about puppet and strings.Yes?
A female Lord Justice Clerk. A step forward to some however look beneath the surface in the world of judges and politics. Not too difficult to scratch away the spin is it.
Seems you are the only one in the media who bothered to highlight the fact Dorrian sat on the committee which selected Carloway while Carloway sat on the committee to select Dorrian.
How the judiciary manage these stitch ups and get away with it without anyone raising an eyebrow is amazing
The content of the FOI papers portray Sturgeon as the plotter of the process as we all know her to be. Favours granted guarantee reciprocal behaviour.
Credit where credit is due … a female Deputy top judge is a step forward, however the real test will come if Dorrian just agrees with the dicats of vested interests and Crown office.
Something very wrong here and why is this all held in secret?We are paying their salaries so have a right to know what is going on and who is recommended and on what grounds.
Nicola Sturgeon recommended the Judge who investigated her botched legal service to client – for a judicial role
The Judge found that Sturgeon had committed three counts of professional misconduct – in a Law Society probe of Sturgeon’s failure to provide legal service protections for a domestic violence victim. Fortunately for Sturgeon the report was submitted after she had left the profession to become a politician,
The information came to light after Justice Committee Convener Adam Tomkins (Scottish Conservative) & former Scottish Government Legal Affairs Minister Annabelle Ewing (Scottish National Party) made a motivated and concerted effort to close down the same Judicial Interests Register petition which Nicola Sturgeon has opposed and sought to close – throughout her term as First Minister.
First highlighted in The Justice Diaries
caltonjock 