It’s 18 months since The Firm first ranked the most powerful and influential people in the Scottish justice system and legal profession. Since the political and judicial landscape has changed significantly, so, two months ago, The Firm set out to once again find out who is considered to wield the most power and influence in Scottish law, but This time we invited readers to have their say. The Firm analyses the changes in the list and profiles those individuals who hold the power.

Many are called. Few are chosen. There are in excess of ten thousand solicitors in Scotland, 464 advocates, more or less, 129 MSPs, a handful of judges. Whilst it has been a topsy turvy year at the top of the established orders of the political and legal profession, all have a stake in the Legal Power 100, and in the view of those who voted, the real power doesn’t necessarily lie where it might at first appear. The results of The Firm’s comprehensive Power 100 poll of 2007 make for fascinating reading, and invite each of us to consider the essence of power, what it is, and how it is perceived. Some positions of alleged leadership are not so highly regarded, whilst ordinary citizens are revered and respected for their views and influence. They speak. Others listen and act.
The list reflects the results from the online poll conducted via The Firm’s website, open to all, which invited the profession to nominate ten candidates from the longlist selected by The Firm’s editorial board over the previous year. These are the thoughts and perspectives of your peers and fellow professionals, recognition from those who know the shape and structure of the legal world, its people and its pitfalls. You have spoken, and those who have made a place on this list do so based on the respect of those who appreciate who they are and what they do.
We can deduce from the results that institutional power is somewhat limited. Dogged campaigner Robbie the Pict, who spearheaded the reversal of the Skye Tolls regime, and continues to agitate on the illegality of speed cameras, is ranked above Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill, whose predecessor Cathy Jamieson topped the poll last year. Jamieson was three years into her tenure at the time of the last poll, and MacAskill has been incumbent for only six months, but even with the shorter exposure in the job, he has failed to secure the recognition and respect equivalent to his predecessor, or Robbie.
Alex Salmond’s statesmanlike approach to the First Minister’s job has earned him the top spot, ahead of Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini, whose high placing reflects her tactical victory over Lord Hamilton in the wake of the collapsed World’s End murder trial. Nonetheless, Hamilton’s very public engagement in what is likely to be the definitive legal event of 2007 saw him improve his overall placing on the list from last year. The poll seems to reflect that power arises from action, rather than status.
2007 may be the year when judicial campaigning gained the visibility and respect that characterises the best principles of the law, as Aamer Anwar, currently awaiting censure from the High Court in respect of allegedly contemptuous remarks, is tacitly supported by his legal colleagues who have acknowledged his influence, placing him at number nine this year, a massive leap from placing 64th last year. He is joined high in the rankings by citizen campaigners Jim Swire and Iain Mckie, whose tireless search for justice in the name of their respective daughters were given fresh impetus, in Swire’s case by the referral of convicted Lockerbie accused Abdelbaset Ali Mohmad al Megrahi’s case to the High Court on the basis that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred, and in McKie’s case by the publication of his book, The Price of Innocence, documenting the ten-year struggle of Shirley McKie against police corruption and the entrenchment of the judicial establishment. Their combined work has shone the most damning of lights on the dustiest, most shameful aspects of the culture of denial which exists in the corners of the profession that need the greatest exposure. Their campaigns strike at the vulnerable core of the profession, to considerable effect.
Reinforcing the diminution in the perceived power of the established structures, the majority of High Court judges on the longlist placed very low in the table, perhaps recognising that the role, whilst important, allows little scope for individual distinction.
Public profile and visibility surely played virtually no part in the high placings of judicial academics Sir Neil MacCormack, Donald Nicolson, Alan Paterson, and in particular Professors Joe Thomson and George Gretton, whose largely unheralded work continues to garner the respect and appreciation of those who are aware of their crucial contribution, both in understanding newly developing law, and shaping the future legal landscape via the Scottish Law Commission.
Other notable placings included the prominence of young lawyers’ representatives Collette Paterson and Maryam Labaki, demonstrating that presence and visibility can equate to influence and authority. Their positioning relative to long established, experienced fellow professionals indicates that the voices of the newer members of the profession are keen to be heard, and cannot be ignored.
The results overall clearly indicate this is a fluid, vibrant profession, with shifts and balances in power taking effect beyond the scope of the change in Government in May, with influence distributed across all aspects of public life.
The methodology in arriving at the current Power 100 has been a cumulative process taking almost 12 months. Readers of The Firm were invited to nominate individuals who may have deserved a place on the list, and those details were married with the results from last year’s Power 100, which in itself took almost a year to compile, to create a preliminary longlist of around 150 names. The second stage saw The Firm’s editorial panel convene to whittle those down to a final longlist of 115, based on the criteria of legitimate institutional power, influence within the profession or the judicial policy making process, status within the established framework, their input on government issues, the public debate and legal influence. A voting process was then undertaken via The Firm’s website, inviting each website visitor to nominate ten individuals from the longlist, generating a statistically robust sample of the views of the profession We are proud to introduce The Firm’s definitive, peer rated Scottish Legal Power 100 of 2007.