Leeona Dorrian, Lady Dorrian


Leeona June Dorrian, Lady Dorrian is the Lord Justice Clerk, the second most senior judicial post in Scotland. An advocate since 1981, she has been a judge since 2002. After three years as a temporary judge, she became a Judge of the Supreme Courts of Scotland in 2005.

Early life

Dorrian was born in Edinburgh and educated at Cranley Girls' School in the city. She studied at the School of Law of the University of Aberdeen, graduating LL.B. in 1977, and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1981.

Legal career

Dorrian served as Standing Junior Counsel to the Health and Safety Executive and Commission between 1987 and 1994, Advocate Depute between 1988 and 1991, and as Standing Junior to the Department of Energy between 1991 and 1994. She was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1994, and called to the English Bar in 1991, at the Inner Temple. Between 1997 and 2001 she was a member of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. Dorrian was appointed a Temporary Judge of the Court of Session in 2002, and in 2005 became a full-time Senator of the College of Justice, taking the judicial title, Lady Dorrian.
She was promoted to the Inner House in 2012.
In April 2016, Lady Dorrian was appointed as Lord Justice Clerk, succeeding Lord Carloway who had been promoted to Lord President of the Court of Session. She is the first woman to serve as Lord Justice Clerk,
and at the time of her appointment was one of only 9 women out of 31 judges in Scotland.
Lady Dorrian became a member of The Management Board of The Aberdeen Law Project in 2010.