Alison Stirling

Year of Call: 1997

Areas of Practice

• Commercial,
• Damages & Reparation,
• Family,
• Land & Property,
• Public Law & Equality

Alison has a broad civil practice, with most of her instructions being in relation to reparation law, family law and public law. She has a particular interest in reparation cases arising out of the abuse of children in various institutions, in foster care or within the family home in circumstances where they should have been taken into care. She has acted for such pursuers in a large number of cases. She was junior counsel in the House of Lords in AS – v – Poor Sisters of Nazareth, 2008 SC (HL) 146 and junior counsel in the Five Judge Bench case Aitchison – v – Glasgow City Council, 2010 SC 411, both of which related to historical abuse and the law of time bar. Her reparation experience is not limited to child abuse claims. She appeared as junior counsel for the deceased’s family in Mitchell – v – Glasgow City Council 2009 SC (HL) 21, described by Baroness Hale of Richmond as “the latest in a long line of cases from Scotland which have played such an important part in shaping the law of negligence for the whole of the United Kingdom”. In family law she is regularly instructed in both the Court of Session and the sheriff court in divorce actions and child law actions, including those relating to adoptions and children’s hearings. Many of her Court of Session cases involve an international or cross-border element. She appeared in the Supreme Court as junior counsel for the unmarried father who had been denied access to children’s hearings in respect of his daughter in Principal Reporter – v - K. 2011 SC (UKSC) 91.  As regards her experience of public law, she has appeared in many different courts and tribunals including Commissioners’ Hearings in respect of benefit appeals, the Housing Benefit Tribunal, the Transport Tribunal, and the Additional Support Needs Tribunal for Scotland dealing with school placing requests and co-ordinated support plans. She has also appeared in Court of Session appeals from the Additional Support Needs Tribunal on education matters. Many of her cases raise human rights issues, and she is always willing to consider a human rights angle. Alison is a hardworking, reliable member of the Stable whose calm and measured approach results in her being reinstructed by agents

General Information

• Part-time Sheriff 2011 to date
• Deputy Editor, Session Cases 2001 to date
• Faculty of Advocates: Lord Reid Scholarship 1996-97
• Legal Assistant to the Lord President (Hope) 1995-1996
• University of Edinburgh: Diploma in Legal Practice 1992-1993
• University of Edinburgh: LLB(Ord) (with distinction) 1990-92
• University of Edinburgh: MA(Hons)History 2:1 1983-87