photo opportunity 6.50pm, Saturday 19 January, Tower Building, University of Dundee
The University of Dundee will play host on Saturday to one of the most experienced judges of our time. The most senior judge in Scotland, The Right Honourable Lord Cullen will deliver the Saturday evening public lecture on public inquiries: when, why and how?
Lord Cullen has conducted several high profile public inquiries in recent years into the Piper Alpha disaster (1988-90), the shootings at Dunblane Primary School (1996) and the Ladbroke Grove rail inquiry (1990-2001).
Lord Cullen will explain to the gathered audience the conditions for establishing a public inquiry, why such an investigation is necessary and how the procedures are conducted.
The lecture begins with an identification of the factors which require a public inquiry and the use of judges as chairmen. After explaining the basis on which an inquiry is established, Lord Cullen will go on to describe its relationship to other investigations surrounding the inquiry.
He will then give an account of how the inquiry deals with the concerns of interested persons, achieves fairness to persons who may be criticised and translates the inquiry's remit into an investigation of specific issues.
Lord Cullen will comment on the independence of the inquiry, and the discretion entrusted to the chairman before discussing how he or she might approach making recommendations arising from the evidence.
Lord Cullen was educated at Dundee High School, the University of St Andrews and Edinburgh University where he took his law degree. He was called to the Scottish Bar in 1960 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1973. In 1986 he was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland, 1997 - Lord Justice-Clerk and a privy Counsellor and in 2001 he was appointed Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice-General of Scotland. In July 2000 he was given an honorary degree from the University of Dundee.
The lecture is the second in the series of six Saturday evening public lectures at the University this winter. Dr Fiona Watson, presenter of the BBC series In Search of Scotland will deliver a lecture on 26 January followed by Professor Peter Vanezis, a forensic medicine expert, Chris van der Kuyl, President of VIS entertainment plc and Professor Mark Chaplain who mathematically models cancer growth. All lectures are free, open to the public and will take place at 7pm in the Tower Extension lecture theatre in the Tower Building at the University of Dundee./ENDS
Contact Keith Mackle 01382 344442