Scott was admitted as a
solicitor in 1989, She "took silk" (became a
Queen's Counsel) in 2002. She has acted as lead counsel in a number of high-profile appeal cases such as the
Lockerbie bombing and the
Glasgow Ice Cream Wars, in which she defended
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Thomas "TC" Campbell, respectively. She was also successful in the appeal case of Kim Galbraith, whose murder conviction for shooting her policeman husband was reduced to
diminished responsibility.
Megrahi's second appeal On 6 November 2008, Scott applied to the
Court of Criminal Appeal for Megrahi's release on
bail pending the second appeal against his conviction at the
Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial in 2001. The three judges reserved their judgment on the application. A week later, Megrahi's bail application was refused. Megrahi was told he would remain in jail for the duration of his second appeal.
Judicial career From 2003 to 2012, Scott was a part-time
sheriff. taking the judicial title
Lady Scott.
Controversy Scott provoked public anger in July 2013 when sentencing a man convicted of several incidences of
rape, as she appeared to praise him for having overcome his difficult background and succeeded at running a business. Her comment was viewed as inappropriate, with the Scottish Conservative
Chief Whip John Lamont arguing that, "plenty of people have had tough lives ... but don’t rape anyone." In March 2017, Scott granted a man who confessed to the
rape of a
12-year-old child an
absolute discharge. Although Scott acknowledged that
Scottish law dictates an individual under the age of 13 is considered incapable of giving consent in any circumstance, she stated that the victim was not distressed and that all eyewitnesses believed her to be over 16.
Rape Crisis England and Wales critiqued Scott's ruling, saying that, as a 12-year-old has no legal capacity to consent, sexual activity with them is always illegal. Moreover, it is an adult's responsibility to ensure that their partner is capable of giving consent. In a letter published after the trial, the victim claimed that she was unconscious at the time of the attack, further calling into question her ability to consent. ==Personal life==