Lord Doherty joins top bench early next year

The Supreme Court has announced the appointment of Lord Doherty as its newest justice.

President of the Supreme Court, Lord Reed, described his new colleague as an “exceptionally able judge” with “long experience of the Scottish legal system.”

Lord Doherty has served in the Inner House of the Court of Session since 2020, having first joined the Scottish bench in 2010. Before his judicial appointment, he practised mainly in civil law, handling commercial and property matters as well as public law and valuation cases.

He studied law at the universities of Edinburgh and Oxford, as well as Harvard, and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1984.

Speaking on his appointment Lord Doherty said:

“I am thrilled and honoured to be appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court. I look forward very much to working with my fellow Justices and with other colleagues at the Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.”

Earlier in his career, Lord Doherty held a number of senior roles at the Scottish bar. Between 1990 and 1997 he served as standing junior counsel to several UK Government departments. He was elected Clerk of the Faculty of Advocates in 1990 and took silk in 1997. From 1998 to 2001, he worked as an Advocate-depute, prosecuting on behalf of the Crown.

During his judicial career, Lord Doherty has sat in a range of specialist courts and tribunals, including the Lands Valuation Appeal Court, the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery), and the Competition Appeal Tribunal. He also served as Scotland’s principal commercial judge. More recently, he sat on the Privy Council appeal Cable and Wireless Jamaica Ltd v Abrahams.

Lord Doherty will be sworn in as a justice of the Supreme Court in early 2026.

News of the appointment comes after the Supreme Court announced last week that it will sit in Glasgow next May, as part of its efforts to be “as transparent and accessible as possible”.