The board is responsible for the overall strategic direction and performance of the SCCRC, and is ultimately responsible for determining whether or not to refer cases to the High Court.

Angela Constance, the cabinet secretary for justice and home affairs, yesterday announced that Ms Fordyce and Ms Mawdsley had been reappointed for a four-year term from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2029.

Ms Fordyce is an advocate who called to the bar in 2016, having previously practised as a litigation solicitor in Edinburgh.

She was first appointed as a legal member of the SCCRC in 2021, and as a legal member of the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security Chamber) in 2024.

She has previously assisted the senior judiciary in respect of domestic and international criminal appeals as a law clerk in the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland and a visiting professional in the appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

She is also a contributing editor of The Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia, a reporter for Session Cases law reports, and a board member of the Howard League for Penal Reform in Scotland.

Ms Mawdsley is a solicitor who has worked predominantly and extensively in the policy and criminal justice fields.

Having worked with the Scottish government, COPFS, SCTS, SLAB, the Judicial Institute for Scotland and the Law Society of Scotland, she has a detailed understanding of how the Scottish justice system operates.

Her work now focuses mainly on academic teaching at the Open University as well as at Edinburgh University on a range of legal subjects that includes criminal law, pro bono project work and vicarious trauma.

She writes academically on criminal, medical/egal issues, legal history and fatal accident inquiries (FAIs).