Four judges – Lady Anwar, Lord Ewing, Lord Ghosh and Lady O’Neill – have been sworn in as Senators of the College of Justice earlier this month, elevating them to members of Scotland’s senior judiciary.
The ceremony, held in Edinburgh, marked the first time lawyers with South Asian heritage have been appointed as senators: Aisha Anwar KC and Julian Ghosh KC.
Anwar, who was formerly the Sheriff Principal of Glasgow and Strathkelvin, and president of the Sheriff Appeal Court and a temporary judge, is an honorary King’s Counsel in Scotland. She served as partner and head of litigation for Scotland at DLA Piper, having trained and qualified at Maclay Murray & Spens.
She was first appointed as a part-time sheriff in 2011 – Scotland’s first instance civil court – and as a sheriff at Glasgow Sheriff Court in 2014, where she was a designated family law and commercial law sheriff. She was appointed Sheriff Principal of South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway in 2020 and as Honorary King’s Counsel in 2024, before moving to Glasgow.
Ghosh – one of two advocates appointed – is King’s Counsel in both England and Wales and in Scotland, and was previously a tax barrister at One Essex Court in London and an advocate at Ampersand Advocates with a mixed civil and commercial practice.
He has a double doctorate from Oxford and Cambridge, and he also represented Scotland at international fencing, most recently in 2022.
The elevation of Christine O’Neill KC also marked the first time a solicitor advocate from a major firm of solicitors – Brodies – was appointed directly to Scotland’s Supreme Court.
O’Neill has been a partner at the firm since 2004, which she chaired from 2013 to 2025. Becoming a solicitor advocate in 2008, she was first standing junior to the Scottish government between 2016 and 2020 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel – now KC – in 2020.
Also appointed was Liam Ewing KC. He has been a solicitor since 1990 with rights in criminal and civil law. His practice spans criminal, civil and regulatory areas, and he became a KC in 2019. Since 2018, he has served as an advocate depute, or senior Crown prosecutor, and was later appointed assistant Principal Crown Counsel. At the Crown Office, he handled various complex prosecutions and appeals.
The last judge to be appointed was former Lord Advocate – the Scottish government’s chief legal adviser – Dorothy Bain PC KC, who will be sworn in in January. Bain left politics in June, having started her political career in 2021.
She also previously served as Principal Crown Counsel for Scotland from 2009 to 2011, the first woman to hold this prosecutorial position in Scotland.
Scotland’s most senior judge, Lord President Lord Pentland, said: “Their diverse knowledge and experience will be a hugely beneficial addition to the bench and they will provide the high-quality impartial justice the people of Scotland expect from their judiciary.”
He added: “The senior judiciary must reflect the society we serve. Those thinking of becoming judges should take confidence that, no matter one’s background or path in the law, becoming a member of the senior judiciary is open to you and based solely on merit.”
Pentland said the appointments “mark a welcome and historic step in further broadening the diversity of the senior judiciary”, acknowledging the appointment of Lady Cosgrove three decades ago as Scotland’s first female judge at the Court of Session.
Meanwhil, Ruth Charteris KC and Brian Gill were sworn in by Lord Pentland as Scotland’s new Lord Advocate and Solicitor General two months ago, following elections.
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
