Douglas Ross KC
Douglas Ross KC is currently non-practising and is not available to accept instructions at present.
Douglas Ross is a graduate of the universities of Glasgow and Cambridge. Prior to calling to the Bar in 1998, he spent three years as a lecturer in law and eight years as a legal adviser at the United Nations, serving in Gaza, Vienna, Zagreb and Sarajevo. In addition to appearing in many important cases in the Court of Session, he has appeared in the Supreme Court, House of Lords, High Court of Justiciary, Sheriff Court, Scottish Land Court, Lands Tribunal for Scotland, Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal, Mental Health Tribunal and the Health Professions Council.
Douglas was appointed as a Standing Junior Counsel to the then Scottish Executive in 2000, becoming Second Standing Junior in 2010 and First Standing Junior in 2012. From 2014 to 2016, he was the only Scottish lawyer appointed to the A List of the Attorney General’s Panel of Public International Law Counsel for the UK Government. He has been instructed in cases in a wide range of areas, notably administrative law, judicial review and human rights. Other areas in which he has substantial experience include medical negligence and personal injuries cases in which he has been regularly instructed for both pursuers and defenders. He was instructed as Crown Counsel in the second and third Lockerbie appeals in, respectively, 2008-9 and 2020.
Douglas has appeared at numerous Fatal Accident Inquiries. He represented the Scottish Government at the lengthy inquiry into multiple fatalities in the fire at Rosepark Care Home and has appeared for health boards at inquiries in relation to deaths in hospital. He is instructed by NSS Scotland in the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry. Since being appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2016, Douglas’s principal areas of practice have continued to be in judicial review, human rights, medical negligence and personal injuries.
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Fiona Drysdale KC
Fiona’s practice spans personal injury, clinical negligence, fatal accident inquiries, and public inquiries, with particular expertise in catastrophic injury, fatal cases, and matters involving children. She brings extensive courtroom and advisory experience, regularly prosecuting in the High Court as an Ad Hoc Advocate Depute, and previously serving as a Standing Junior to the Scottish Government. Fiona is also a member of the Scottish Civil Justice Council and has significant experience in regulatory and disciplinary work, chairing judicial panels and acting as a legal assessor across a range of professions.
Fiona is ranked in Chambers UK Bar 2025 for Clinical Negligence and Public and Fatal Accident Inquiries. Chambers notes that: “Fiona Drysdale KC has hit the ground sprinting since taking silk in 2023. She has been instructed on several high-profile mandates for core participants and is widely recognised for her prowess in the clinical negligence field.” “Fiona Drysdale KC represents clients on both the pursuer and defender sides of clinical negligence cases. She is noted for her strength in claims arising from maximum-severity birth injuries and has extensive experience in fatal claims and delayed diagnosis cases.” Fiona is also ranked in The Legal 500 UK Bar 2025 for Clinical Negligence, Personal Injury, Crime and Regulatory, which describes her as: “Extremely capable, hard-working and reliable.”
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Isla Davie KC
Isla Davie’s practice covers a range of medical negligence, professional negligence, commercial law, property and personal injury disputes, in particular catastrophic injury. She is regularly instructed on behalf of insurers, public bodies, professional bodies and individuals. She is often asked to speak on medical negligence and property law.
Isla studied law at Edinburgh and Paris-Sud. She joined the Bar in 2004 after seven years’ experience as a solicitor with commercial firms and took silk in 2019. She practices in civil law, being regularly instructed in interdicts, debates, proofs, civil jury trials and Fatal Accident Inquiries.
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James McConnell KC
James McConnell KC has a practice that mainly focusses on clinical negligence. He is also frequently instructed in inquiries with a medical element. He acts for pursuers and defenders in roughly equal proportions. As a junior he was Band 1 ranked by Chambers and Partners in Clinical Negligence and by the Legal 500 in Personal Injury and Medical Negligence.
Cases:
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Jamie Dawson KC
Jamie Dawson KC called to the Bar in 2004 and took silk in 2020. He has a wide ranging civil practice involving both appearance and advisory work. He has experience of appearing in both the Inner and Outer House of the Court of Session, the High Court of Justiciary and sheriff courts as well as tribunals and public inquiries. The mainstay of his practice is medical and dental negligence cases (pursuer and defender) and public inquiries. He also works in the field of personal injury (pursuer and defender) and defamation and handles insurance and commercial disputes, trust and property cases.
Jamie was instructed as lead Counsel on behalf of the Scottish infected and affected core participants in the UK’s largest ever public inquiry at that time, the Infected Blood Inquiry. The final report was published in May 2024.
Jamie was appointed to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry legal team. He, along with 10 other KC’s, support Hugo Keith KC, Lead Counsel to the Inquiry, and Martin Smith, Solicitor to the Inquiry, with the preparation and delivery of the Inquiry’s investigative work. He lead Module 2A, Core UK decision-making and political governance – Scotland.
As a junior Counsel, he was recommended in legal directories for his expertise in clinical negligence and personal injury work for several years. Amongst the comments on his practice were the following:
• “Fantastic at dealing with complex medical evidence and technical details.” (Legal 500 (2020), personal injury and clinical negligence work, Band 1)
• “A committed advocate who has vast experience defending clinical negligence cases. His wide-ranging caseload spans such circumstances as birth injuries, dental malpractice and fatal accidents. He also has experience in mental health and cancer diagnosis cases.
Strengths: “He is very good at getting into the details in clinical negligence cases.”(Chambers & Partners (2020), clinical negligence work)
• Strengths: “He is very good at picking up on things and running with them.” “I would describe him as very proactive. He was very good in the case I was on and made a very positive contribution to its conclusion.” (Chambers & Partners (2017), personal injury work)
• “He’s good, thorough and professional.” (Chambers & Partners (2016), clinical negligence work)
• “He is extremely impressive and very helpful too.” (Chambers & Partners (2016), personal injury work)
• Expertise: “He’s very thorough and goes into a lot of depth; his advocacy skills are very good.” (Chambers & Partners (2014), personal injury work)
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Jamie Gardiner
Jamie Gardiner specialises in cases combining legal and financial analysis.
On the legal side, Jamie has broad experience across commercial disputes. He particularly enjoys technical points of contractual / statutory interpretation – and finding them in factually ‘messy’ cases. From 2005-2007 he practised as a Barrister in London, so is able to advise on questions of English law.
On the financial side, he likes spreadsheets, cross-examining accountants and insolvency practitioners, complex corporate structures, quantifying loss, valuing companies and interrogating financial statements.
Jamie developed these skills as a Business Consultant. From 2007 to 2015, he worked (latterly as Director) in Accenture’s Trading, Investment and Optimisation team. He led projects in the energy, financial services and beverages sectors. His clients included BP, British Airways, Diageo and a major bank.
Jamie has an interest in animal law. He sits on the Advisory Board of the Animal Law Foundation and is interested in finding ways to better enforce farm animal welfare legislation.
Selected cases:
(Where the names of parties have not appeared in published opinions, initials have been substituted)
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