 |
Lady Smith | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait from 2006 | |
| Senator of the College of Justice | |
| Assumed office 2001 | |
| Nominated by | Henry McLeish As First Minister |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Anne Mather 16 March 1955 |
| Spouse | David Alexander Smith |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
| Profession | Advocate |
Anne Smith,Lady Smith, PC (born 16 March 1955) is a Scottish lawyer,and a retired judge. Smith is currently the chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.
Smith was educated at Jordanhill School and Cheadle County Grammar School for Girls,before attending the School of Law of the University of Edinburgh,where she graduated with an LL.B. (Hons.). [1] She served a two-year apprenticeship with Shepherd and Wedderburn WS,and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1980.
Smith worked as standing junior counsel to the Countryside Commission, [1] before becoming a Queen's Counsel in 1993. [1]
She served as a temporary sheriff from 1995 to 1999, [2] as chairman of the Scottish Partnership on Domestic Abuse from 1998 to 2000, [1] and as an advocate depute from 2000 to 2001. [2] In April 2001 she was blamed by Donald Findlay for falling dress standards in the courts. In 1997,she had been the first woman to appear before the Court of Session in trousers;Findlay said that "The drop in standards began when female lawyers were allowed to wear trousers in court. They are all right for going to Tesco in,but not suitable dress for ladies to wear in court." [2] In November 2001,Smith was appointed a judge of the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary,the Supreme Courts of Scotland,taking the judicial title Lady Smith. Filling the vacancy created by Brian Gill's promotion to Lord Justice Clerk,she was only the third woman to be appointed to the College of Justice.
Smith was appointed as chairwoman of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in July 2016;since February 2017 she has been the sole member of the panel. [3] In 2019,a disability discrimination employment claim was made against Smith at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. The allegation was that Smith discriminated,harassed and victimised a junior advocate of the inquiry when he was diagnosed with cancer,undergoing surgery,during chemotherapy and thereafter to date. Smith denied the allegations. The claim was later withdrawn due to fear of costs. [4] [5] On 23 February 2022,an appeal court held that Smith was acting beyond her powers to prevent the BBC from fully reporting on the disability discrimination employment claim against Smith. An order restricting reporting detail of the claim was issued by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry and then challenged by the BBC,first through a judicial review and then an appeal of that review decision. [6]
The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has been criticised for the limited scope of investigations,mounting costs,and delay. [7] [8] [9]
John Halley,a former Counsel to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry,has written a book documenting his experience of disability discrimination by Smith. Halley outlines the cover up and corruption by the Scottish legal profession attempting to silence him because he called for an investigation into the historical child abuse allegations against senior legal professionals. [10]
Smith and her Senior Counsel,Andrew Brown KC,have been consistently criticised by survivors,most notably a prominent and vocal group called EA Survivors (ex Edinburgh Academy) founded by survivors brought together through Nicky Campbell. EA Survivors (EAS) has written to the Inquiry expressing strongly negative views about Lady Smith and alleging that she is institutionally biased in favour of prestigious private schools citing:
- The controversial report on Loretto School in Musselburgh,which Smith published in April 2023. Survivors were highly critical of the positive tone adopted by Lady Smith. Her introductory sections describe how Loretto is “set in a leafy campus extending to about 85 acres…close to the sea.”“Pinkie House is worthy of particular mention”and according to Lady Smith’s report is “Scotland’s finest Renaissance Villa.”The Times wrote about the survivors' views on the Loretto report. [11]
- A serious conflict of interest as Lady Smith served on the board of governor's of Scotland's leading girls private school,St George's School for Girls. [12] Lady Smith's husband,David Alexander,was educated at Fettes College in the 1960's. Their son and daughter were students at the Edinburgh Academy. Smith has repeatededly refused to disclose this,despite her remit to investigate EA and Fettes. According to former employees of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry,Smith has fired people for 'conflict of interest.'
A group of 75 survivors from various backgrounds wrote to the First Minister of Scotland John Swinney in December 2024 demanding that he commence proceedings to remove Lady Smith from her post,on grounds of bias,and recommending replacing her with an impartial Chair.
The EA Survivors full report is available online. [13]
The next report from the survivor group will be published in Q1 of 2025,and will cover:
- work being done to influence safeguarding in schools today
- progress with criminal convictions
- the role and culpability of former governors and school management
- collusion and cover up
- interference and abuse of position by senior members of the legal profession in Scotland
- systematic mistreatment of whistle-blowers by Lady Smith.
Lady Smith's predecessor resigned due to alleged views deemed 'offensive to survivors'. [14]
Smith married David Alexander Smith,a solicitor,in 1979,with whom she has a daughter and a son. Her husband was at Fettes College in the 1960's and her children were both educated at Edinburgh Academy.
The Edinburgh Academy is a private day school in Edinburgh,Scotland,which was opened in 1824. The original building,on Henderson Row in the city's New Town,is now part of the Senior School. The Junior School is on Arboretum Road to the north of the city's Royal Botanic Garden.
Fettes College is a co-educational private boarding and day school in Craigleith,Edinburgh,Scotland,with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed in 1983. In 1978 the College had a nine-hole golf course,an ice-skating rink used in winter for ice hockey and in summer as an outdoor swimming pool,a cross-country running track and a rifle shooting range within the forested 300-acre grounds. Fettes is sometimes referred to as a public school,although that term was traditionally used in Scotland for state schools. The school was founded with a bequest of Sir William Fettes in 1870 and started admitting girls in 1970. It follows the English rather than the Scottish education system and has nine houses. The main building,called the Bryce Building,was designed by David Bryce.
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