TRUSTEE OPPORTUNITY — BORDERS MUSIC FESTIVAL

Published on behalf of Robert Marshall WS.

This is to let you know about an amazing opportunity to join the Board of an emerging music festival in Scotland — the Borders Music Festival (a Scottish charity, SC049870, formerly the Melrose Music Festival). In the last couple of years we have positioned the festival as a major platform to promote educational opportunities for young people in the Borders, as well as showcase local as well as national/international talent. 

 We have and continue to develop some fantastic partnerships including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Samling Artists, The Marian Consort, the Borders Brass Association as well as with the Scottish Borders Council (including with their Instrumental Music Service in schools across the region) as well as with local and national musicians and funders.  For our festival in 2025, we were in the Herald’s top 10 music destinations in Scotland for September. See below for some 'at a glance' facts about 2026. We also have the endorsement of Sir James MacMillan.

To support our development, the Board is moving to become separate from the operational arm and, after a public recruitment round and having appointed a new chair - Vince Mason, a chair with a track record of leadership in the art and charity world. We are now seeking to appoint a number of Trustee to strengthen and expand our Board. Please see advert below which closes on 6th April.

If you are interested and would like further information then please email Vince Mason vincentpmason@gmail.com (Chair) or Robert Marshall WS robertmarshall963@gmail.com. 

If you are not interested yourself, then please do pass this on to as many people as you can and who work with those with experience of governance and the arts and who have the significant leadership ability needed.

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Every month, Director of Membership and Engagement Sarah Leask quizzes a member of the WS Society for the ‘Spotlight’ feature in the regular Signet Post e-bulletin. Lawyers in employment, corporate, academe, property, immigration, data technology, charity and in retirement all share their enthusiasm and pride in membership.

WEEK IN PICTURES

A snapshot of a week in the Signet Library. Another week of connecting, growing, and leading the way together. Events include the JUSTICE Scotland lecture with keynote speakers Catherine Smith, Advocate General for Scotland, and Sir Ian Forrester, renowned European law practitioner; our Student Networking event; and our Breakfast Networking event.

SIG ROUND UP

The WS Book Club will meet on Tuesday 21 April, 6 - 7 pm, to discuss The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante. Beautifully translated from the original Italian, it is described as “a significant work in contemporary literature.”

Ferrante is perhaps best known for her Neopolitan Novels (beginning with My Brilliant Friend) but The Lost Daughter stands alone and is a good example of the author’s story telling skills.

Register for the Zoom meeting here.

All other SIGs will break for the Easter holidays. Please keep an eye on our SIG page for information on upcoming events.  

USING YOUR MEMBERSHIP

Make the most of your membership! Here’s a reminder:

• “WS” signifies prestige, integrity, and repute — use it in your email footer! You are at the heart of the law in Scotland, linked to the Signet and College of Justice, est. 1532.

• You belong to the best solicitor law library, with helpful, friendly personnel. We subscribe to LexisNexis and Westlaw are available on site or by emailed extracts.

• Use the Signet Library to work between court appearances, meetings, etc. There are desks in the West Library and designated parts of the Lower Library. There is no need to pre-book.

• Borrow non-reference books on request. Document delivery is available by email.

• Join any of the Society’s Special Interest Groups exclusive to members. Many sessions qualify for CPD.

• Make use of your discounted rates for CPD conferences and other events.

• Make sure you receive our monthly e-bulletin Signet Post with details of events and exhibitions — and your copy of Signet magazine.

• Use your 50% discount for private meeting room space and venue hire at the Signet Library.

• Take advantage of your 15% discount at Colonnades.

• Attend our in-person networking events, held at the Signet Library. Check Signet Post for the latest.

• Join our regular networking sessions, including ‘speed networking’ for our student members.

 If you have any questions, email Sarah Leask on sleask@wssociety.co.uk.

SUMMER SCHOLARS 2026

We are pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for our prestigious 2026 Summer Scholar Programme. This initiative serves as a cornerstone of our commitment to fostering the next generation of professionals within the legal sector, providing a structured environment where academic excellence meets high-level commercial application.

Scholars will engage with our diverse membership base, gaining insights into various facets of the profession and build a foundational network that will serve them throughout their careers. We are looking for candidates who demonstrate not only strong academic records but also a sophisticated analytical approach and a collaborative spirit.

The programme is tailored each year to cover contemporary legal issues and will include an assigned, team-based research project, working towards a presentation to external delegates and the production of a report for publication. You will be overseen by Principal Solicitor, Sophie Mills WS and assisted by the Society’s trainee solicitor, Kirsty McEwing.

Interested candidates are invited to review the full eligibility criteria and submission requirements in the advert below.

Applications must be submitted in full by Friday 1 May to be considered for the 2026 cohort. If you have any questions about the programme or application process, please contact Kirsty McEwing.

PORTRAIT INSTALLATION

The founder of the WS Society’s school for orphans, Vans Hathorn WS, has joined novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott, pioneering legal lawyer George Dallas WS and philanthropist and connoisseur Sir James Gibson Craig on a very significant wall of the Signet Library this week.

The installation of Vans Hathorn’s vast portrait, placed in our care on loan by the Hathorn family, next to the Grand Stair at the Signet Library, completes a fine sequence of portraits chosen to represent the importance of the Society to charitable life and giving, the arts and the finest ambitions of the law in Scotland itself.

All four portraits stand together against the place where the Signet Library joins with Edinburgh’s ancient Parliament Hall, underneath the foundational yearstone with its famous “1636” inscription. The whole Society sends its thanks and gratitude to the Hathorn family whose gesture in allowing the loan has made this possible.

IN VOGUE

We are incredibly proud to see Lady Elish Angiolini LT KC WS, Keeper of the Signet, featured in the April edition of British Vogue.

The feature’s photography was captured here at the Signet Library. This was a spectacular moment for the library, blending our classic heritage with the height of modern style.

Five years on from Sarah Everard’s murder, the article offers a powerful and moving profile of Lady Elish’s vital work on the Angiolini Inquiry. Lady Elish speaks candidly about her findings on police culture, the urgent need for reform in vetting and recruitment, and her commitment to improving safety and justice for women and girls.

Sophie Mills WS, Principal Solicitor at the Society comments “This is an excellent British Vogue article about immensely important work! It is profoundly inspiring to work alongside Lady Elish Angiolini in her role as Keeper of the Signet. Her career has been defined by 'firsts', but it’s her unwavering sense of self and integrity that sets the gold standard for our profession. Those qualities have allowed her to navigate the highest offices of the law while remaining a beacon of accessibility and progress.”

An accompanying tribute from Sarah Everard’s mother can be read here.

SIGNET MAGAZINE

We are delighted to announce the launch of the 2026 edition of SIGNET Magazine. This year’s volume offers a curated collection of insights, features, and updates from the heart of the WS Society and the Signet Library.

Click on the picture below to start reading.

Hard copies have been dispatched to all members — please check your mailboxes. Visitors to the Signet Library can collect a complimentary copy from the Reception.

JUSTICE SCOTLAND LECTURE

We are delighted to invite you to our upcoming JUSTICE Scotland event, Rights, Justice and the Rule of Law in Scotland, taking place in the historic heart of legal Edinburgh.

This year's JUSTICE Scotland lecture, will be held at the Signet Library on Monday 16 March at 5.30pm.  

This will take the form of a fireside chat between two distinguished speakers, who will be announced shortly. The lecture will be followed by a drinks and networking reception, kindly sponsored by Pinsent Masons.

Attendance is complimentary.

VANS HATHORN WS

The Society is delighted to announce that through the generosity of the Hathorn family it has secured on long term loan a portrait of Vans Hathorn WS, the founding hero of the Society’s orphan school John Watson’s Institution.

The portrait was commissioned in December 1837 to honour Vans Hathorn, the long-serving treasurer of the school and by then well into his 80s, while there was still time. He’d been involved in the affairs of John Watson’s Trust since 1813, and it was his brilliance in the handling of the legacy in trust and his determined fight that it be used to help orphans that had enabled the school’s opening in 1828.

Treasurer of the Society Andrew Storie put the task in the hands of John Watson Gordon (later knighted), who was working at the same time on a separate commission from the Society, the portrait of Lord Hope that now dominates the Grand Stair. By January 1838, Hathorn’s portrait was described as “well underway” and by January 1839 the picture was finished and hanging in the school’s chapel. Hathorn lived to see it there, passing away nine months later.

The Hathorn portrait hanging in the chapel.

The painting remained in the chapel until the final closure of the school in 1975. The vast painting would have been threatened with homelessness had the Hathorn family not stepped in to take it under their care, and the picture was restored and reframed at their expense before being rehung in their London home. They were keen however that the picture would one day return to Edinburgh, and when the Society sent out an appeal in 2025 to learn of the painting’s whereabouts, they got in touch and offered to host a visit from Society researchers. From these first conversations came the offer of the picture coming to the Signet Library which will be its third home in 188 years.

The picture is a powerful visual symbol and representation of the WS Society’s charitable work and involvements, at a time when, with the Society itself now a registered charity, these have never been closer to the heart of its everyday life. The painting will hang alongside the Grand Stair, next to the Raeburn portrait of George Dallas, whose System of Stiles, written during the Carolingian Restoration period, launched three centuries of WS intellectual involvement in Scottish life and law.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY EVENT

To mark the 115th anniversary of International Women’s Day, Women in Law Scotland and Women at the Bar invite WS members to an address by the Lord Advocate, Rt. Hon. Dorothy Bain KC, on Thursday 5 March 2026 at 6 pm in Parliament Hall.

The Lord Advocate will offer a personal reflection on the progress made over the course of her career in protecting women and children in Scotland from violence and other forms of exploitation, and on the challenges that remain.

Dorothy Bain KC has appeared in Scotland’s highest courts and the UK Supreme Court, and has played a significant role in some of the country’s most complex and high-profile cases.

She served as an Advocate Depute from 2002 to 2011 and was appointed Principal Advocate Depute in 2009 — the first woman to hold the role — leading Scotland’s most serious criminal prosecutions. In 2008, her landmark report on the prosecution of sexual crime in Scotland led to the creation of the National Sex Crimes Unit.

Since her appointment as Lord Advocate in June 2021, Bain has advised the Scottish Government on constitutional matters, presented cases of national importance before the UK Supreme Court, and driven reforms in sexual offence law, victims’ rights, and drug policy.

This event is a joint collaboration between Women in Law Scotland and Women at the Bar.

CURLING AT THE SIGNET LIBRARY

In February, the GB Curling Team led by Bruce Mouat came home with a silver medal in the men’s event and a fourth place finish in the mixed doubles. The GB team came back with three gold medals and five medals in all — the best Winter Olympics performance by a GB team in history.

To celebrate their achievement and to mark the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina more generally, the Signet Library has put together an online exhibition featuring some of the rich literature around Scotland’s Ain Game including some of the game’s earliest mentions in the legal literature of the country.

The WS Society’s Historical Consultant Dr Kit Baston has written an account of an early legal battle involving the game of curling as part of her ongoing Tales from the Session Papers series.

SIG ROUND UP

AI SIG will be joined by Scott Simpson from the Security Circle, Charity and Third Sector SIG set to hear from OSCR on the implementation of the recent charity law changes in Scotland and Book Club meets to discuss Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. More details below.

AI

All WS members are welcome, you don’t need to have attended a previous AI SIG. On Wednesday 25 March, 12.30 - 1.30 pm, the group will be joined by Scott Simpson, CEO at The Security Circle, to discuss the harms and issues that AI implementation presents. He will talk about the questions you could be asking to ensure the right actions are being taken, such as good governance, security, and 3rd party assurance.

Not to be missed!

Register for the Zoom meeting here.

ART

12 members of WS Art SIG met on Sunday 22 February at the RSA, The Mound, Edinburgh for Peter Graham ROI  RSW’s wonderful guided tour of the 145th Open Annual Exhibition of the RSW (Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour Exhibition). The group all appreciated hearing interesting facts about the individual Artist’s backgrounds, painting styles, and trajectories. One of the group’s Members, Caroline Docherty OBE WS, recognised one of the exhibition’s painters, Ann Oram RSW, as having work at the WS!

Afterwards, the group travelled up to the Signet Library for a relaxing afternoon tea in the most splendid and elegant Colonnades, where they discussed art and life.

To note interest, for future Art SIG events, please email membership@wssociety.co.uk.

BOOK CLUB

The group meets approximately every six weeks, with the books for discussion alternating between contemporary award winning fiction, and more classic works. 

The next meeting is on Tuesday 10 March, 6.00 - 7.00 pm, when the group will discuss Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Register for the Zoom meeting here.

CHARITY AND THIRD SECTOR

Next week, the Charity and Third Sector SIG will be joined by The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) for a 360? conversation on the implementation of the recent charity law changes in Scotland, what's next, and emerging trends in the sector.

The meeting will be held on Thursday 5 March, 12.30 - 1.30 pm. Please register for the Zoom meeting here.

GOLF

The WS Beginners Golf continue to meet at Dalmahoy Golf Club, Edinburgh on Tuesdays and Saturdays with Pro Scott Dixon.

If you would like to join the next session, or find out more, please email membership@wssociety.co.uk.

PERFORMING ARTS

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new SIG, the Performing Arts SIG will focus on in-person visits to the theatre, museums, opera and ballet. 

There was a short Zoom call held on Monday 23 February to discuss the interests of the group and future meetings. Thank you to those who attended. Please keep an eye on our Special Interest Group page for updates.

If you would like to note your interest for this group, please email the Membership team at membership@wssociety.co.uk.

BREAKFAST NETWORKING

Following on from February’s Breakfast Networking, we are pleased to announce the next Member Networking event will take place on Wednesday 25 March, 8 am - 9 am.

This is an opportunity for our Full, Associate and Affiliate members to make connections, during a relaxed and informal event. You are welcome to attend for the full hour or simply pop in before you head to work for the day.

There is no better way to kick off the workday than with fresh coffee, pastries, and the exceptional company of our legal community. As one member put it:

“A really enjoyable way to start the day with some networking over coffee at the beautiful [Signet Library]. No agenda, great conversations and the chance to meet some new folk.”
 
These sessions are designed to be informal and accessible; a space for our members to connect, share ideas, and build new relationships in the stunning surroundings of the Signet Library. We’ll be hosting these breakfast catchups regularly. Keep an eye on our upcoming newsletters and emails for future dates.

To help us plan catering, we’d appreciate it if you could let us know whether you plan to attend. Please email membership@wssociety.co.uk. However, you’re very welcome to drop in on the day even if you haven’t RSVP’d.

We look forward to seeing you.

Please note – we will be holding more Breakfast Networking events throughout the year. Please contact Sarah Leask with any questions.

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT ON SIAN KEDDIE

Affiliate member, Sian Keddie, talked to us about her path to law, being named a Key Lawyer by Legal 500 and the role the Society has played in her career to date.

PRO BONO REQUEST — HELP SHAPE THE FUTURE OF SCHOOL NUTRITION IN SCOTLAND

We have received an exciting pro bono invitation from our colleagues at Clifford Chance regarding a project that sits at the intersection of legislative reform and social impact.

Magic Breakfast, a leading charity dedicated to ending morning hunger as a barrier to education, is seeking specialist legal support to help bring a Scottish universal school breakfast proposal to life.

The charity is looking for legal experts to assist with legislative drafting. The core of the work involves adapting existing draft provisions to ensure they align seamlessly with the Scots law framework, specifically focusing on education law, children’s wellbeing and rights and public law structures.

There is a comfortable lead time for this project, with a final deadline of 1 April 2026.

If this project resonates with your practice or your firm’s pro bono goals, please express your interest. This is a unique chance to use your expertise to ensure no child in Scotland starts their school day hungry.

KEEP YOUR MEMBERSHIP DETAILS UP TO DATE

If you have changed firms, moved house or changed your email address please let us know.

We are keen that the contact details we hold for you are up to date. Therefore, if anything has changed, please send our Membership team an email to membership@wssociety.co.uk with any updates. Thank you.

INVITATION FROM THE BOSWELL SOCIETY

The Boswell Society are extending an invitation to join a small group tour to Corsica 5 - 12 September 2026.

In 1765, young Scottish writer James Boswell embarked on journey to Corsica, during its struggle for independence. His meeting with the leader Pascal Paoli and his vivid account of Corsican life captured the imagination of Europe. To commemorate this remarkable adventure, the Boswell Society invites you to retrace his steps across the island he so passionately admired.

Places are limited and those interested in joining this bespoke adventure should contact Richard Davies. 

DUNDEE STUDENT LAW REVIEW — CALL FOR PAPERS

The Dundee Student Law Review (DSLR) is a student-run, peer-reviewed legal academic journal, which is now making a call for papers for Volume XII. Volume XII’s theme is set to focus on climate change challenges, energy solutions, and other related topics.

For both inspiration and guidance, the quote provided below captures the essence of what the DSLR aims to have students critically engage with:

“There is again concern over Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheet melt, with the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation] (AMOC) collapsing, bringing severe regional weather changes. These, however, are still projected events that can be avoided should considerable investment and development of sustainable technologies occur.” (A Guide to the New Energies, 2nd edn, Aberlour Press Ltd 2023)

The DSLR invites any member of the WS, either full member, affiliate or student, to submit work that discusses any desired area or aspect of law within the above-noted theme for the new issue. 

• Please include your full name and the aspect or area of law the submission discusses

• Submissions that offer a critical or original perspective to the given theme will be prioritised

• Please omit your name from the article itself as all submissions will be edited/reviewed anonymously to ensure fair practice

• Submissions should be no longer than 10,000 words

• Please refer to OSCOLA for citing sources

The deadline for submissions for Volume XII is 25th May 2026. Submissions should be emailed as attachments to: law-studentreview@dundee.ac.uk: