Expert prosecutor named as the new chief of Scotland's legal system

A SOLICITOR who made his name as a prosecutor has been named as the new chief of Scotland's legal system.

Frank Mulholland was appointed as Scotland's new Lord Advocate by the First Minister in yesterday's ministerial appointments.

Mr Mulholland steps up from the position of Solicitor General to succeed Elish Angiolini, who served in the role from 2006 to 2011.

The government's new Solicitor General is Lesley Thomson, who has served as the Procurator-Fiscal for Glasgow and Strathkelvin.

She is a specialist in the seizing of the proceeds of crime and author of A Practical Guide to Confiscating Crime Proceeds.

Ms Thomson succeeds Mr Mulholland in a post he has held since 2007.

She also held a series of roles in Procurator-Fiscal Offices in Greenock, Paisley, and Glasgow before her appointment as the Procurator-Fiscal for Selkirk.

Mr Mulholland has been a prosecutor throughout his career, having joined the Procurator-Fiscal Service in 1984, working in Glasgow and Edinburgh offices before taking up policy and managerial posts in the Crown Office.

He was appointed the Procurator-Fiscal for Lothian and Borders in January 2006, before being selected by the Scottish Government to be Solicitor General in 2007.

The First Minister promised that the government's new legal officers would be a "tough prosecuting team" and pledged that a crack down on sectarian crime would be one of their main priorities.

Mr Salmond said: "The Law Officers of Frank Mulholland and Lesley Thomson are Scotland's tough new prosecution team. The Lord Advocate will be bringing his proposals for new measures to crack down on sectarian crime to Cabinet next week.

"Lesley Thomson as Solicitor General is an expert on criminal confiscation and she will be stepping up the Crown Office's efforts even further to strip law breakers of their ill-gotten gains, so that they can be invested in community projects to give our young people new and healthy life opportunities."

There will be motions to seek parliamentary approval for the appointment of the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General in the Scottish Parliament next Wednesday.