Alan Dewar KC
Alan Dewar KC was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1989 and took silk in 2002. He was the Treasurer of the Faculty of Advocates from 2007 to 2011. Over the years he has appeared in a wide range of civil and criminal cases, particularly in the fields of commercial, public law, and professional and clinical negligence. In addition, he has acted for and advised companies and public authorities on contractual and delictual disputes, public procurement, regulatory and licensing issues, as well as other agencies such as the Registers of Scotland, and professional bodies such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). He is a legal adviser to the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. He has also represented companies, other corporate bodies and individuals in a number of public inquiries, planning inquiries, fatal accident inquiries, defamation actions, and intellectual property disputes. In the public law sphere he has extensive experience in the field of judicial review, human rights and immigration. Alan is also often appointed by the Court to act as Commissioner in Section 1 (“dawn raid”) petitions.
Alan has extensive advocacy experience arising from practising as a solicitor and advocate for more than 30 years. This includes Inner and Outer House experience in the Court of Session as well as a significant number of appearances in the House of Lords, Privy Council, the UK Supreme Court, the European Commission in Strasbourg and the UEFA Disciplinary Tribunal in Geneva. He was junior counsel to the Orkney Inquiry; standing junior counsel to a number of Government Departments including the Department of Trade and Industry and the Scotland Office; an Advocate Depute for three years; and also has extensive experience in planning and other inquiries, and before various other Tribunals. Between 2009 and 2011 he successfully represented the Lord Advocate and the Scottish Ministers in the AXA insurance case (which confirmed the validity of the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions)(Scotland) Act 2009), ultimately in the UK Supreme Court.
He also acted for the Scottish Ministers in the Clostridium Difficile Inquiry chaired by Lord MacLean: the Report of the Inquiry was published in 2014. In November 2013 he successfully represented the pursuer/appellant in Cramaso LLP v Viscount Reidhaven’s Trustees in the UK Supreme Court, a case concerned with the tenancy of a grouse moor in which the principal issue was whether there was sufficient proximity between an individual and a LLP such as to create a duty of care in the context of negligent misrepresentations. He also acted for the successful pursuers in Frank Houlgate Investment Co Ltd v Biggart Baillie LLP [2014] CSIH 79 in which The Inner House upheld the decision of Lord Hodge after proof. The pursuers established that a solicitor and his firm were liable to the pursuers for facilitating a continuing fraud when the solicitor had continued to act for a fraudster even after he had confessed to the fraud. More recently he has acted for a number of asylum seekers in various challenges to the operation of the Dublin II and III Regulations, and for the successful petitioners in Ochiemhen and Menuba v SSHD [2016] CSOH 179 and 180 (concerned with alleged breaches of visas granted to the petitioners to operate as entrepreneurs in the UK) and Alagoz v SSHD [2017] CSOH 27 (concerned with the operation of the EEC – Turkey Association Agreement).
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Christian Marney FCIArb
Christian Marney’s interest and considerable experience is in professional negligence and commercial litigation; employment and personal injury reparation. He is regularly instructed in professional negligence matters in particular, though not exclusively, by the Law Society of Scotland professional indemnity insurers. He is currently pursuing and defending actions in the Court of Session and Sheriff Court on behalf of solicitors and construction and housing professionals. He has a well established track record in personal injury having acted for most of the major insurers for most of his professional career. However, he also ensures that he continues to pursue cases on behalf of individuals and succeed in securing full compensation on behalf of those injured persons. He has a longstanding interest and involvement in employment matters, both advisory and litigated. He is one of a small number of junior counsel recognised in this area at the Scottish Bar. He has advised and represented UK plc’s, Local Government and major insurance companies in all of those areas. Christian was admitted to The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in 2017 as a Fellow in October 2018.
Recent cases:
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Dana Forbes
Dana called to the bar in 2015 after 13 years with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Her caseload often involved difficult issues such as human rights, administrative law, novel legal argument and areas of potential legal reform. She has extensive experience in court practice as well as legal research, analysis and opinion writing. During her career, Dana has provided legal advice to the Law Officers, Crown Counsel and the Scottish Government Legal Directorate.
Since calling she has gained considerable experience in personal injury (acting for both pursuers and defenders), clinical negligence, judicial review and Fatal Accident Inquiries. Her other interests include health and safety prosecutions, succession, property rights and criminal appeals.
Dana has conducted proofs in the Court of Session and the All Scotland Personal Injury Court. She has presented cases before the Sheriff Appeal Court and the Court of Criminal Appeal. Dana has also represented clients before the Scottish Social Services Council and on referral to the Sheriff Court from the Children’s Hearing system.
Dana has assisted the Judicial Institute with their training programme. She has also given presentations to new lawyers on behalf of the Law Society of Scotland on subjects such as advocacy, personal injury and specialist procedure in the Court of Session.
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Douglas Ross KC
Douglas Ross KC is currently on sabbatical 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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Eoghainn CM MacLean
Eoghainn MacLean is a leading commercial litigator, ranked by Chambers and the Legal 500.
In 2020, he returned full time to the commercial bar after a year as permanent Crown Counsel, leading High Court (i.e. Crown Court) prosecutions in back to back jury trials, preliminary and sentencing hearings.
“If you need someone in your corner instruct Eoghainn. Quick to get up to speed. Superb on his feet in court – and he explains what is going on to clients. Best at complex commercial cases. Superb legal brain. Good with clients and wins cases.”
Stuart MacFarlane, partner & office head, Weightmans, solicitors, Glasgow
“Eoghainn is consistently thorough and very user-friendly. He is exceptionally good at analysing complex issues and explaining difficult concepts to clients.”
Fraser Geddes, partner & head of dispute resolution, Anderson Strathern, solicitors, Glasgow
“Eoghainn is a determined and focused litigator who pounces on the relevant facts and applicable law. He makes the complex understandable and navigates your case in the correct direction. You definitely want him on your side!”
Richard Frenz, partner & head of court department, Miller Hendry, solicitors, Perth
“Eoghainn relishes mastering complex issues …and will not shy away from running difficult cases.”
John McHugh, partner, Harper MacLeod, solicitors, Edinburgh
“Eoghainn is particularly good at presentation of the client’s case in Court. He has shown he “can deliver” in the most complex of cases.”
Drew Taylor, Consultant, Shepherd and Wedderburn, solicitors, Edinburgh
“Eoghainn’ s careful approach is invaluable in complex commercial cases”
Graham Craik, Partner, Levy & McRae Solicitors, Glasgow
“Eoghainn is an outstanding advocate who gave us the confidence to pursue our case and win.”
Eileen Gallagher OBE & Ann McManus, co-founders Shed Productions, London
Eoghainn has handled hundreds of commercial, competition, property (including planning and IP) and professional liability cases before the highest civil courts. He conducts them as lead counsel.
A pdf of his full CV is available from the tab on the left.
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Fiona Drysdale KC
Fiona Drysdale specialises in clinical negligence, reparation and public inquiries. She has considerable experience in catastrophic injury, fatal cases and those concerning children. She served as a Standing Junior to the Scottish Government and is an Ad Hoc Advocate Depute. She is a member of the Scottish Civil Justice Council, an instructor of instructors for Advocacy Skills and a Quality Assurance Assessor. Her regulatory work includes acting as a Legal Assessor for the General Teaching Council for Scotland and as clerk to the Disciplinary Tribunal of the Faculty of Advocates. Fiona was instructed as a standing junior counsel on behalf of the Scottish Government in Module 1 of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry on the Resilience and Preparedness of the United Kingdom for which The Inquiry Report was published on 18 July 2024.
She is ranked in Chambers UK Bar 2025 for clinical negligence and public and fatal accident inquiries. Chambers states “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. She is widely recognised for her prowess in the clinical negligence field” and “Fiona Drysdale KC represents clients on both the pursuer and defender sides of clinical negligence cases. She is noted for her strength in claims resulting from maximum-severity birth injuries. She is also experienced in fatal claims and delayed diagnosis cases”.
She is also ranked in Legal 500 UK Bar 2025 for clinical negligence and personal injury and crime and regulatory which states “She is extremely capable, hard-working and reliable”.
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