John Francis Wheatley, Lord Wheatley Personal Computer Queen's Counsel is a Scottish lawyer and retired Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of the Supreme Courts of Scotland, sitting in the High Court of Justiciary and the Inner House of the Court of Session.
Background
His father, John Wheatley, Baron Wheatley, was Lord Justice Clerk between 1972 and 1985, the second-most senior judge in Scotland. Wheatley was born the son of John Thomas Wheatley and Agnes Nichol. His father, a distinguished lawyer, had served as Solicitor General and Lord Advocate, before being appointed a judge and rising to the rank of Lord Justice Clerk, the second-most senior judge in Scotland.
Career
He is an authority on road traffic law. Wheatley was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1966, and appointed Standing Counsel to the Scottish Development Department in 1971, and Advocate Depute in 1975. He was appointed a Sheriff of Tayside, Central and Fife in 1979, serving at Dunfermline from 1979 to 1980, and at Perth from 1980–2000, from 1998 as Sheriff Principal.
He was appointed a Temporary High Court Judge in 1992 and took silk in 1993.
In 2000, Wheatley was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of the High Court of Justiciary and Court of Session, Scotland"s Supreme Courts, taking the judicial title, Lord Wheatley. From 2002 to 2006, he was Chairman of the Judicial Studies Committee, the body responsible for the training of judges.
He was promoted to the Inner House of the Court of Session, and to the Privy Council, in 2007.