Brian Gill, Lord Gill is a retired Scottish judge and a distinguished legal academic.
Education
Gill was born in Glasgow and educated at Street Aloysius" College, an independent Jesuit school in the city. He studied at the School of Law of the University of Glasgow (Master of Arts, Bachelor of Laws), where he was a member of the Glasgow University Union and Dialectic Society, and at Edinburgh (Doctor of Philosophy), where he lectured in the Faculty of Law from 1964 until 1977. He was awarded Honorary Degrees by Glasgow University in 1998 (Doctor of Laws), Edinburgh University in 2007, and the University of Abertay, Dundee, in 2008 (Doctor of Laws).
Career
He served as Lord President and Lord Justice General from June 2012 until May 2015. Gill previously served as Lord Justice Clerk from 2001 to 2012, and as Chairman of the Scottish Law Commission from 1996 to 2001. As an advocate, he practised principally in agricultural law and is the author of The Law of Agricultural Holdings in Scotland.
In 2007–2009, Gill undertook a far-reaching review of the civil courts system in Scotland, recommending a shift of much of the workload of the Court of Session to Scotland"s local sheriff courts.
He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1967 and appointed Queen"s Counsel in 1981. He was called to the English Bar (Lincoln"s Inn) in 1991.
Lord Gill was an Advocate Depute from 1977 to 1979, and standing Junior Counsel to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1974-1977), the Home Office (1979-1981) and the Scottish Department (1979-1981). Gill was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice in 1994, and was Chairman of the Scottish Law Commission from 1996 until 2001.
Lord Gill was appointed Lord Justice Clerk and President of the Second Division of the Inner House of the Court of Session in November 2001.
From 1987 to 1994 he was Keeper of the Advocates" Library and a Trustee of the National Library of Scotland. He is the author of The Law of Agricultural Holdings in Scotland. Since his retirement as Lord President in May 2015 he has sat on occasion as an acting judge of the United Kingdom Supreme Court.
Membership
Faculty of Advocates]
He has been a member of the Scottish Legal Aid Board and the Scottish Valuation Advisory Council and Deputy Chairman of the Copyright Tribunal.