Professor Robert Black QC, emeritus Professor of Law at Edinburgh University has said incumbent Elish Angiolini’s tenure as Lord Advocate, a role traditionally held by experienced advocates, was a “disastrous experiment” in his daily blog.

“In the past, the law officers have traditionally come from the ranks of the practising Bar and were supporters of the governing party,” Black says.

“Elish Angiolini, as well as being the first woman, was the first solicitor and the first legal civil servant. It is to be hoped that it will be recognised that the appointment of a Crown Office staffer as Lord Advocate was a disastrous experiment which should never be repeated.”

Professor Black’s blog, which provides daily updates on matters relating to the Lockerbie case which he assisted in setting up, has been critical of the Crown Office during the affair and during her tenure.

“Is it too much to hope for that Mrs Angiolini's successor - who, it is devoutly to be wished, will not be another Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service civil servant - will have a more open mind about Lockerbie, about the damage and loss of public esteem that the Scottish criminal justice system has suffered because of it and about the best way to rectify this?” he asks.

Sources close to the Lord Advocate are briefing journalists that Frank Mulholland, the present Solicitor General, ought to be appointed as her successor. Angiolini’s successor will be appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the First Minister with “the agreement of the Parliament". No details have yet been announced about when this will take place or who that successor will be.