Terra Firma Chambers’ Neil Kinnear has been appointed by His Majesty the King to the office of Summary Sheriff.  The appointment was made on the recommendation of the First Minister, based on a report by the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland.  Neil will take up the full-time position on 22nd April and will serve the Sheriffdoms of Tayside, Central and Fife.

Neil graduated from the University of Aberdeen with an LLB degree in 1990 and DLP in 1991. After serving a traineeship in Edinburgh, he called to the bar in 1994, where he developed a wide-ranging commercial practice gaining considerable experience in disputes concerning commercial contracts, heritable property, landlord and tenant, valuation for rating, bankruptcy and insolvency, unjustified enrichment, and succession.

In addition to being a part-time Sheriff, he is a fee-paid Judge of the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber), a Legal Member of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber), a Legal Convener of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Social Security Chamber), and a former tutor and lecturer in Civil Litigation and Advanced Civil Litigation at the Glasgow University Diploma in Legal Practice.

Emma Caskie-Potter, practice manager at Terra Firma said: “On behalf of everyone at Terra Firma Chambers, I would like to take this opportunity to pass on our best wishes to Neil.  He was a founding member of Terra Firma and very popular with both members and clerking team alike.  Neil will be sorely missed but I am sure that he will be a great success in his new role.”