Law Society of Scotland
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Office bearers and Chief executive

Office bearers

Cameron Ritchie, President of the Law Society of Scotland

Cameron Ritchie

President 2011/12
cameronritchie@lawscot.org.uk
+44 (0) 131 226 7411

Cameron served his apprenticeship in Wright and Crawford in Paisley from 1972 to 1974 and immediately joined the Procurator Fiscal Service as a Depute PF in Ayr. In 1975, he moved to Glasgow and worked there for the next 13 years, mainly conducting sheriff and jury trials and fatal accident inquiries (FAIs).

He developed close links with the then members of the Glasgow Bar Association, fostered by the shared adversity of working in the County Buildings in Ingram Street! In 1998, he moved to Hamilton and then to Dundee, becoming PF in Stirling in 1996. In that and the next year, the fiscal service had to deal with Dunblane and the FAIs into deaths at Cornton Vale Prison. He took over Alloa as part of his jurisdiction in 1999. In 2002, the service restructured and became the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and split into 11 areas. Cameron took on the post of Area PF for Fife, based in Kirkcaldy, until his recent retiral.


Apart from an obvious interest in criminal work at all levels, his main interest and his corporate role in COPFS was investigation of deaths and conduct of subsequent public inquiries. He became a solicitor advocate with extended rights of audience in criminal law in 1995.

He has been a Council member for nearly six years and has been involved in various committees and working parties, in particular the Professional Conduct Committee through its early stages and latterly its development. He chaired the Society's newly formed Nominations Committee.

Cameron tries to spend as much time as he can golfing, walking and reading.

Austin Lafferty

Vice President 2011/12
alafferty@laffertylaw.com
+44 (0) 131 226 7411

Austin is a solicitor, broadcaster, journalist and artist, who has worked in general practice since 1981.  As well as running his own multi-branch firm in and around Glasgow, he has worked in a variety of media roles, having been a radio and television presenter on numerous programmes.

Austin is a newspaper columnist on legal matters who has worked on the Herald, the Sun, the Sunday Post and the Times (both Glasgow Evening Times and the London Times).  He has also written It's The Law! which is a handbook on Scots Law for citizens, published in 2004.
Austin has been on the Council of the Law Society of Scotland since 2006 and has sat on various committees, convening the Nominations Committee and the Strategy Group, and been involved in lectures, seminars and other events for the profession. He has been elected Vice-President of the Law Society from May 2011.

Austin was educated at St. Aloysius College and the University of Glasgow.  Married with two student children, for leisure he is a karate black belt and has run several marathons.
David McClements

David McClements

Treasurer
dem@radenny.co.uk
+44 (0) 131 226 7411

David is a partner with Russel + Aitken LLP, based in the Denny office. He was appointed as a partner in 1998 and has worked with the firm since 1995 having qualified in 1991.

He has a particular interest in incapacity and mental health law and was involved in the alliance which campaigned successfully for the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000. His main area of legal practice is private client work.
He has been a Council member of the Society since 2001 and served on a number of committees, including the Professional Practice Committee and Guarantee Fund Committee, as well as convening one of the Client Relations Committees. He was appointed Treasurer in May 2009.

His other interests involve working as a director of Alzheimer Scotland, the dementia charity, and he is on the board of a local mental health association. He enjoys running in his spare time, having completed a number of half marathons, and is hoping to target his first marathon in the future. He is married to Louise, a Church of Scotland minister, and he has two daughters.

Chief executive

Lorna Jack, Chief Executive

Lorna Jack

Chief Executive
lornajack@lawscot.org.uk
+44 (0) 131 226 7411

Lorna Jack joined the Society in January 2009.  Prior to the Law Society, Lorna was based in the United States, as President Americas for Scottish Development International (SDI), the Scottish Government's trade and investment arm. In this role, she was responsible for operations across five locations in the US, Canada, Mexico and Brazil and at an early stage she delivered a large operational restructuring and redirection of this team. Under her leadership, the team delivered significant gains on its inward investment agenda (including new and expansion projects with Dell, Amazon, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Trump and Wyeth). They also supported around 150 Scottish companies every year to tackle the Americas market. This included the option of co-locating with SDI in cities throughout the US when companies were making their first real step into the North American market.
Previously, Lorna was Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise (SE) Forth Valley, one of 12 local enterprise companies covering Scotland. Prior to her appointment to the Chief Executive role in 2000, she was Director of Operations for two years. Before joining SE Forth Valley, she was Head of the SE Global Companies Enquiry Team. She has also served as Head of the Food Team at SE as well as head of a team at SE Grampian which provided training to the food and manufacturing sectors.
A chartered accountant by profession, she completed her training with Arthur Andersen and spent six years in financial management roles with a UK telecoms and cable television company before joining SE. She is a graduate of Aberdeen University and for four years sat on the board of the university's US Development Trust.

Lorna joined the Society in January 2009.  Prior to the Law Society, Lorna was based in the United States, as President Americas for Scottish Development International (SDI), the Scottish Government's trade and investment arm. In this role, she was responsible for operations across five locations in the US, Canada, Mexico and Brazil and at an early stage she delivered a large operational restructuring and redirection of this team. Under her leadership, the team delivered significant gains on its inward investment agenda (including new and expansion projects with Dell, Amazon, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Trump and Wyeth). They also supported around 150 Scottish companies every year to tackle the Americas market. This included the option of co-locating with SDI in cities throughout the US when companies were making their first real step into the North American market.

Previously, Lorna was Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise (SE) Forth Valley, one of 12 local enterprise companies covering Scotland. Prior to her appointment to the Chief Executive role in 2000, she was Director of Operations for two years. Before joining SE Forth Valley, she was Head of the SE Global Companies Enquiry Team. She has also served as Head of the Food Team at SE as well as head of a team at SE Grampian which provided training to the food and manufacturing sectors.

A chartered accountant by profession, she completed her training with Arthur Andersen and spent six years in financial management roles with a UK telecoms and cable television company before joining SE. She is a graduate of Aberdeen University and for four years sat on the board of the university's US Development Trust.