Law Awards of Scotland

Colin took early retirement from the position of Legal Manager at Standard Life in April 2012, having worked there in a variety of roles for 26 years.   A graduate of Dundee University, his legal career began with his apprenticeship at the then firm of Baillie & Gifford in Edinburgh followed by 8 years at Shepherd & Wedderburn.  During his time at Standard Life, he was involved in a wide variety of legal work, and latterly managed a team of some 25, both lawyers and non-lawyers.

Colin joined the Committee of the In-House Lawyers Group in 1988, serving until October 2012 and was the Vice-Chairman for the last 15 years he was on the Committee.  He was made an Honorary Life Member of the In-House Lawyers Group in February 2013.  Colin has been a Fellow of The Law Society of Scotland since October 2019.

He represented the Edinburgh constituency on the Council of The Law Society of Scotland from May 2014 to May 2020. He served on the Society’s Management Board from October 2015 to May 2020. He is a current Member of the Society’s Admissions sub-Committee; Nominations Committee and the Planning Law sub-Committee.

Colin was appointed a Director and Company Secretary of the Scottish Charity, Lead Scotland in October 2015.

Colin was given a Special Recognition Award for “Doing” at the 2013 Law Awards of Scotland Dinner.

Outwith work, Colin enjoys foreign travel and is a keen follower of football and golf, and a collector of antiquarian law books.

Meena has over 20 years’ experience recruiting in the legal sector and has recruited at all levels from Paralegal up to Senior Associate and Partner level. Although she focusses predominately on the Scottish market, she also has extensive experience operating with firms in the Channel Islands and London.

She deals with both in-house and private practice clients including international, magic & silver circle and mid-tier to boutique firms, covering a range of specialism’s including IP/IT, Corporate, Banking, Contracts, Employment, Family, Commercial and Residential Property and Private Client.

As Head of the Davidson Chalmers Stewart Dispute Resolution team, I represent clients in a wide range of property and commercial disputes across various courts and tribunals in Scotland, and have been involved in several cases in the House of Lords and more recently the Supreme Court.

Since I recognise that court action does not appeal to many clients, I also act as a mediator and handle many issues outside the confines of the courtroom. Whilst I enjoy the challenge of the courtroom, I recognise that it is not always the best way to resolve disputes. My skills as a mediator and my work in arbitration mean that my team will always work to find the most appropriate way to resolve business issues.

By identifying your commercial objectives from the outset, my aim is to achieve them as swiftly and as beneficially to you as I can.

As well as my legal practice, I’m a member of the Commercial Litigation Practice Area Committee for the WS Society in assessing Signet Accreditation, and am also a member of the Scottish committee of the Property Litigation Association and regularly speak at and chair conferences and seminars on the subject of property disputes.

Arlene is an experienced commercial lawyer – Solicitor Advocate (Scotland, England & Wales) and Attorney-at-Law (New York) – and an accredited civil & commercial mediator. She is the founder of Legal Hackers Scotland, which is part of a global movement of lawyers, technologists, academics and policymakers working at the intersection of law and technology. She has a particular interest in harnessing legal technology to advance access to justice around the world. She serves on the Law Society of Scotland’s Access to Justice and Legal Technologist Accreditation committees.

In addition to her work as defence counsel, mostly in the High Court, her highly regarded experience has led, over the years, to a number of appointments. From 1991 to 2013, she was a visiting lecturer at The Scottish Police College. She was a Temporary Sheriff from 1991 until her appointment as an Advocate Depute in 1997. From then until 2000, she prosecuted High Court trials and represented the Crown in the Appeal Court. Thereafter she returned to establish a very busy practise in the High Court as Senior Counsel for the defence, having taken silk in 1998. In 2009 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Strathclyde University. In 2010 she was appointed to be a member of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission until 2018 and in 2019 she was appointed consultant legal adviser to the Commission, a post which she still holds. In 2014, Lord Bonomy invited her to be one of his expert group to assist with his Post Corroboration Review, published in April 2015 and in 2019, she was appointed by Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk to her Review Group on the Management of Sexual Offences, which reported in 2021. Since then, she has been appointed by the Scottish Government to various working groups to oversee consultation on and implementation of Lady Dorrian’s recommendations. She receives many invitations to lecture on many aspects of criminal law and practice. She is the senior woman practising at the Scottish Bar.

Usman Tariq is an Advocate. He specialises in commercial dispute resolution and public law. He has appeared at all levels of the Scottish court system, including the UK Supreme Court. He has held various professional appointments, including as Standing Junior Counsel to the UK Government in Scotland, a full-time Advocate Depute at the Crown Office, Junior Counsel to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and as a member of the Judicial Panel of the Scottish Football Association. He is a recent alumnus of the US Department of State’s International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP). He is a co-founder of Scottish Ethnic Minorities Lawyers Association (SEMLA). He was named “Advocate of the Year” at the Law Awards of Scotland 2017. He was also named by the Legal 500 as “Junior Counsel of the Year” at the Scottish Bar at its UK Awards 2019.