Lord Carloway reflects on his legal career with Professor Sharon Cowan
Mon 19 May 2025
On 30 April 2025, Edinburgh Law School hosted an engaging evening with Lord Carloway, Scotland’s recently retired Lord President and Lord Justice General. The event, chaired by Professor Sharon Cowan, Professor of Feminist and Queer Legal Studies, offered attendees the opportunity to hear Lord Carloway reflect on his personal and professional journey through the Scottish legal system.
Lord Carloway, who served as Lord Justice Clerk from 2012 and as Lord President from 2015 until his retirement earlier this year, began by recounting his time as a student at Edinburgh Law School. He shared anecdotes about who influenced him, the gender dynamics of the time, and memorable student escapades.
He went on to discuss his journey to becoming an advocate, sharing insights into the cases he worked on and his early years as a judge.
The conversation also covered Lord Carloway’s work on the Carloway Report, commissioned by the Scottish Government and published in 2011. He discussed its findings on corroboration and other aspects of criminal justice, as well as more recent cases he has decided involving corroboration.
Professor Cowan raised several thought-provoking topics, including Lord Carloway’s experience presiding over complex and high-profile cases such as the prorogation case in 2019, when the UK Government’s advice to suspend Parliament ahead of the Brexit deadline was challenged in court.
The evening concluded with Lord Carloway offering advice to aspiring judges in the audience, and a lively Q&A session followed.
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Image credit: Scottish Government (Open Government Licence v3.0), source: Commons Wikimedia
