Commissioners and staff

A new Chair will be appointed shortly.

Professor Gillian Black was appointed a part-time Commissioner in April 2020, and the appointment became a full-time one from 1 June 2023. A three-year extension commenced on 22 April 2025.

She is Professor of Scots Private Law at the University of Edinburgh, with teaching and research interests principally in family law, contract law, and privacy.  She also has a research interest in heraldry, and has published widely across these fields.

Before joining Edinburgh Law School as a Lecturer in 2005, Gillian qualified as a solicitor in 2002 with Shepherd & Wedderburn in Edinburgh, working in their Commercial Contracts division, and then spent 18 months as a teaching assistant in the School of Law at the University of Glasgow.  She completed her PhD on publicity rights in Scots law in 2009. She is a graduate of the Universities of Glasgow (LLB, DPLP) and Edinburgh (PhD).

Gillian is the lead Commissioner on the aspects of family law and executry law projects.

Roisin Higgins KC was appointed a full-time Commissioner in January 2026.

Roisin was called to the Scottish Bar in 2000 and took silk in 2015.  She specialises in intellectual property disputes and also has significant expertise in general commercial, property and construction litigation. She practises primarily in the Court of Session, appearing also in the sheriff courts, the UKIPO and at arbitration. She frequently gives seminars on intellectual property for various organisations, including the Faculty of Advocates, the Law Society of Scotland, the WS Society, the University of Edinburgh and the British Irish Commercial Bar Association. Roisin is also a tutor on the Diploma in Legal Practice course at Edinburgh University, as well as a CEDR Accredited Mediator and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Before going to the Bar, Roisin qualified as a solicitor in 1997, working in commercial litigation.  She is a graduate of the University of Glasgow (LLB, Dip.LP).

Roisin is the lead Commissioner on the aspects of leases and nature conservation law consolidation projects

Professor Frankie McCarthy was appointed a full-time Commissioner in October 2019. A three-year extension commenced on 1 October 2024.

She is a Professor of Private Law at the University of Glasgow, where she has taught since 2007.  Her teaching and research interests are in property law and family law, and she has published widely in relation to both.  She was awarded her PhD for a thesis exploring the limits of Article 1 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights.  She is a graduate of the Universities of Edinburgh (LLB, DPLP) and Glasgow (PhD) and was admitted as a Solicitor by the Law Society of Scotland in 2004.

Frankie is the lead Commissioner on the heritable securities project and the tenements project.

Ann Stewart was appointed a part-time Commissioner in April 2024.

Ann Stewart has been a professional support lawyer at Shepherd and Wedderburn for the last 22 years. She is a founder member of the Property Standardisation Group, which produces standardised commercial property documents, and the lead author of a legal textbook, Conveyancing Practice in Scotland, now in its ninth edition. She is also a member of the Law Society of Scotland’s Property Law Committee. In all of these roles Ann seeks to provide clear and practical guidance and support to property lawyers in Scotland.

Ann is the lead Commissioner on the execution of documents project.

Rachel was appointed Chief Executive in July 2024.

Rachel is a solicitor and is on secondment from the Scottish Government. She has worked as a solicitor for several local authorities dealing with contracts and commercial matters and for the UK Government dealing with social security, pensions and health. Since moving to Scotland, she has undertaken a number of posts in the Scottish Government Legal Directorate and also spent time working in the Office of the Advocate General and as part of the review team for the Carloway Review.