News In Focus
19 December 2008
Couper to chair Review Commission
Mrs Jean Couper, former chair of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, is to lead the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, the body which considers alleged miscarriages of justice, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice announced today.
Three new members are also being recommended to the Queen for appointment: Professor George Livingston Irving CBE, Mr Gerry Bann and Mr Christopher Michael Shead.
Mrs Couper, who headed the Legal Aid Board from 1998 to 2006, has also just completed six years as a Commissioner of the Accounts Commission, and among other posts is currently Director of K3 Consultants Ltd providing HR strategic, policy and operational advice to local authorities. She was awarded the CBE in 2006 for services to the administration of justice.
Professor Irving is a former Director of Social Work and President of the Association of Directors of Social Work (Scotland). He led the National Support Team, Management of Offenders 2005-2007, and authored a national report "Registering the Risk", concerned with the registration and monitoring of sex offenders. He currently serves on the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission and is a Visiting Professor to Glasgow Caledonian University.
Gerry Bann is a solicitor and partner in criminal defence firm Adams Whyte. Since 1992, he has specialised in criminal court work and has considerable experience in the investigation of offences and the treatment of offenders in a wide variety of summary and solemn cases, including key cases in the field of criminal law.
Christopher Shead was called to the bar in 1996 after serving as a procurator fiscal depute, and has since specialised in criminal law, with a particular emphasis on appellate work, including devolution appeals to the Privy Council. He is a member of the Faculty of Advocates' Law Reform Committee and contributes regularly to the journal Scottish Criminal Law. Recently he participated in Lord Coulsfield's review on the law and practice of disclosure.
The appointments, which are part time, will run for four years from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2012.