Summary sheriffs appointed 

Summary sheriffs appointed 

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Six new summary sheriffs have been appointed, the Judicial Office for Scotland has announced.

Valerie Mays and Paul Brown have been appointed to the Sheriffdom of Glasgow and Strathkelvin, sitting at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Ms Mays has, since 2006, been a solicitor at the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland. From 2012-2017 she was a legal assessor for the General Teaching Council for Scotland. She is a judge of the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber and Immigration and Asylum Chamber).

Mr Brown became an advocate in 2009 specialising in criminal trials and appeals. In 2015 he was appointed as an advocate depute going on to work in the Crown Office National Sex Crimes Unit before being allocated predominantly to the prosecution of serious and organised crime.

Lindsey Kooner has been appointed to the Sheriffdom of North Strathclyde, based at Paisley Sheriff Court, while Liam Murphy has been appointed to the Sheriffdom of South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway.

Ms Kooner was admitted as a solicitor advocate in 2012, served on the Law Society Short Life Working Group on Criminal Justice Reform and was part of the advisory panel to the Independent Strategic Review of Legal Aid. She is a past president of the Glasgow Bar Association.

Mr Murphy became an assistant with Messrs Finlayson Wise, Solicitors in 1997 before joining the Crown Office in 1998. As a prosecutor, Mr Murphy undertook a number of different roles across Scotland including the procurator fiscal for Hamilton and for the North of Scotland. Since June 2016 he has been the procurator fiscal for specialist casework.

Keith O’Mahony has been appointed to the Sheriffdom of Tayside, Central and Fife, based at Perth Sheriff Court, and Ian Wallace has been appointed as a summary sheriff for the Sheriffdom of Grampian, Highland and Islands based at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

Mr O’Mahony joined the Crown Office in 2001 where he ultimately held the post of senior procurator fiscal depute. In 2015 he became a solicitor advocate and was appointed an advocate depute in the same year.

Mr Wallace started his traineeship with the Crown Office in 2003. He then worked as a procurator fiscal depute in Dumfries and Edinburgh. He also worked in the Crown Office policy division, communications team, High Court division, and International Cooperation Unit. He qualified as a solicitor advocate in 2014, and has worked as an advocate depute since 2014.

The six new summary sheriffs will take up office on 1 October 2018.

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