Margo MacDonald has a political career spanning thirty years since her first senior political role as MP for Govan in 1973.

A journalist and broadcaster, she had a long and active career with the SNP, including four years as Deputy Leader. Margo remains at the forefront of Scottish politics and has assured her place as one of the most colourful characters in the business.

This continues in her role as a List MSP for Edinburgh and Lothian, a seat she won as an Independent in the Scottish elections in 2003, 2007 and again in May this year.

Sheenagh Adams
Keeper of the Registers of Scotland

As Keeper, Sheenagh Adams has overall responsibility for leading and managing RoS. She has 16 public registers under her control including both the General Register of Sasines and Land Register. Sheenagh joined RoS as Managing Director in April 2006 and has over 21 years experience in the Civil Service and 11 years in local government.

Professor Robert Black QC
Professor Emeritus of Scots Law, The University of Edinburgh

Robert Black QC FRSE became Professor of Scots Law in the University of Edinburgh in January 1981, having previously been in practice at the Scottish Bar. He is now Professor Emeritus.

He has been an Advocate since 1972 and a QC since 1987. From 1981 to 1994 he served as a temporary sheriff (judge).

He was General Editor of the 25-volume The Laws of Scotland: Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia.

He has taken a close interest in the Lockerbie affair since 1993, not least because he was born and brought up in the town, and has published a substantial number of articles on the topic in the United Kingdom and overseas. He is often referred to as the architect of the Lockerbie trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands. He blogs on the lockerbie case at www.lockerbiecase.blogspot.com

Sir Andrew Cubie CBE FRSE

Andrew Cubie is a Consultant to Fyfe Ireland LLP. He has been variously Chairman and Senior Partner of that firm having specialised in Corporate law. He holds or has held a number of non-executive Directorships in public and private companies ranging from investment trusts and corporate finance to manufacturing. He is the Chairman of Quality Scotland, an organisation committed to business excellence. He is also Chairman of the VSO in the UK and the RNLI in Scotland and one of the two Deputy Chairmen of the RNLI for the UK and Ireland.

Andrew has been engaged in education issues throughout his professional career, having been Chairman of Governors of George Watson's College, Chairman of the Court of Napier University and the Chairman of the Committee of University Chairmen for the UK. He was Convenor of the Independent Committee of Inquiry into Student Finance in Scotland ("the Cubie Committee") which brought about the abolition of tuition fees in Scotland. He is a former Chairman of the Confederation of British Industry in Scotland. He chairs the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework and also chairs the JNC of the Universities Superannuation Scheme. He serves as a member of the Management Board of HMIE and is a Chairman of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. He also is an advisor to the World Bank in Washington about Higher Education issues in India and South East Asia

Ian Fraser
Legal and Financial Journalist

Ian Fraser, a journalist since 1988, writes about business and finance for the Financial Times, the Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, the Independent on Sunday, and Sunday Herald and is consulting editor on Bloomsbury Publishing's Qfinance.

He writes or has written about the legal profession for titles including Financial Times, The Herald, Scottish Business Insider and European Venture Capital Journal. He was the Herald's legal and accountancy correspondent from 2006-07.

He is also a visiting lecturer in financial journalism at the University of Stirling. Previous roles include business editor of Sunday Times Scotland, financial editor of Sunday Herald, deputy editor of Director, editor of internal magazines at Unilever PLC and assistant editor of EuroBusiness.

In 1990-95 he was a freelance correspondent and travel writer, contributing reports from Central and Eastern Europe to titles including the Guardian, Observer, European and GQ. Before becoming a journalist Ian worked in the international advertising industry in Edinburgh, London and Paris. Married with three children, he has an MA (honours) in English Language and Literature from the University of St Andrews.

Joy Glass
Partner, Scott + Co

A Partner with Scott & Company, the largest firm of Sheriff Officers/Messengers-at-Arms and a leading provider of debt recovery services, Joy has particular responsibility for the firm’s business operations. Joy joined Scott & Company in 1995, having worked previously in the financial services industry both in Scotland and in South Africa. She is a commissioned Sheriff Officer and was an active member of the Committee of Examiners of the Society of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers for many years.

Anne Houston
Chief Executive, Children 1st

Anne Houston is Chief Executive of CHILDREN 1ST, one of Scotland's leading child welfare charities which works to give every child and young person in Scotland a happy, safe and secure childhood.

CHILDREN 1ST listens, supports and takes action for Scotland’s vulnerable children and families. We support families under stress, protect children from harm and neglect, help them recover from abuse and trauma and promote children’s rights and interests.

Prior to her appointment to CHILDREN 1ST in 2007, Anne was Director of ChildLine for many years, leading significant expansion of the ChildLine service and ‘speaking with the voice of children and young people’ to influence wider development of public policy and practice. She has also worked in the voluntary and statutory sectors in Scotland and England, managing young offenders, children and families and mental health teams.

Lorna Jack
Chief Executive of the Law Society of Scotland

Lorna Jack joined the Society in January 2009. Prior to the Law Society, Lorna was based in the United States, as President Americas for Scottish Development International (SDI), the Scottish Government's trade and investment arm. In this role, she was responsible for operations across five locations in the US, Canada, Mexico and Brazil and at an early stage she delivered a large operational restructuring and redirection of this team. Under her leadership, the team delivered significant gains on its inward investment agenda (including new and expansion projects with Dell, Amazon, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Trump and Wyeth). They also supported around 150 Scottish companies every year to tackle the Americas market. This included the option of co-locating with SDI in cities throughout the US when companies were making their first real step into the North American market.

Previously, Lorna was Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise (SE) Forth Valley, one of 12 local enterprise companies covering Scotland. Prior to her appointment to the Chief Executive role in 2000, she was Director of Operations for two years. Before joining SE Forth Valley, she was Head of the SE Global Companies Enquiry Team. She has also served as Head of the Food Team at SE as well as head of a team at SE Grampian which provided training to the food and manufacturing sectors.

A chartered accountant by profession, she completed her training with Arthur Andersen and spent six years in financial management roles with a UK telecoms and cable television company before joining SE. She is a graduate of Aberdeen University and for four years sat on the board of the university's US Development Trust.

Owen Kelly
Chief Executive, Scottish Financial Enterprise

Owen Kelly was appointed as Chief Executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE) in January 2008. SFE is a broadly-based representative organization, funded by its members. Its purpose is to promote the Scottish financial services industry and Scotland as an international financial centre. SFE’s membership is diverse and it includes some of the world’s largest banks, insurers and asset managers, as well as companies providing specialist support services, universities and government agencies.

Owen regularly contributes to public debate on financial services matters in articles, speeches and media appearances. SFE represents the industry to governments and regulators in Scotland, London and Brussels. It has worked extensively in China and other Asian markets, promoting in particular Scotland’s internationally recognized strengths in asset management and servicing, life assurance and pensions.

Before joining SFE in January 2008, Owen worked for 20 years as a government official, in UK and Scottish Governments. His key policy specialisms in government were EU and international relations; and communications. He spent 2 years in Tokyo in the 1990s, promoting Scotland as an investment location.

Owen joined the government service in 1988, shortly after graduating from Edinburgh University with an honours degree in Mandarin Chinese. He studied for one year at Shandong University in 1983/84.

David Lee
Legal Affairs Correspondent, The Scotsman

David Lee is Legal Affairs Correspondent of The Scotsman. He returned to oversee the paper's legal pages in September 2010 after launching them in 2003 and editing them for six years.

David has a varied career as a writer, media consultant, event organiser and event host. He helped to establish The Scotsman Conferences, a new arm of the business launched in late 2009 and he is a member of Scotland's 2020 Climate Group; he specialises in writing on renewable energy and low-carbon technologies as well as law and education.

Away from work, he is a harassed father of four children (and two dogs) and a youth football coach. He still thinks he is really good at football himself despite growing evidence to the contrary.

Niall McCluskey QC
Connarty Advocates

Niall has been a Criminal Lawyer since 1990 and an Advocate since 1995. In that time he has prosecuted and defended criminal cases at all levels from the District court up to the High Court. In addition he has prosecuted and defended Murder cases as leading Counsel. Niall has significant experience in the Appeal Court, and has also appeared in high profile Human Rights and Extradition cases.

Niall regularly presents seminars on various aspects of Criminal Law and in particular has lectured extensively on the Human Rights Act, Disclosure, Counter Terrorism, Youth Crime, Sexual Offences, Trial Strategy, Extradition and Criminal Procedure. He has conducted interactive courtroom training with expert witnesses from bodies such as the Health and Safety Executive.

Niall has had substantial involvement in training on solicitors' Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes, run by bodies such as the Law Society of Scotland and the Glasgow Bar Association.

He was CPD Director for the Faculty of Advocates Criminal Bar Association (FACBA) between 2006 and 2008 with responsibility for organizing their CPD programme, and he is presently a Human Rights tutor at Glasgow University and a Criminal Law tutor at Edinburgh University.

Jillian McKenna
Director of Marketing, Scottish Renewables

Jillian has over 12 years experience as a business development and marketing professional in the legal and renewable energy sectors. Jillian currently heads up Scottish Renewables Marketing Department and is responsible for the strategic growth of the organisation’s membership, event series and industry profile. Jillian has also worked with major national and international organisations as a marketing consultant as far reaching as Japan, to assist in business planning and marketing strategies. Jillian graduated from university with an Outstanding Achievement Award for Student of the Year and frequently gives college and university talks to students.

Robert Pirrie
Chief Executive, The WS Society

Robert Pirrie is Chief Executive of the WS Society. He is a former corporate partner of both Dundas & Wilson and Maclay Murray & Spens. He qualified as a solicitor in 1981. As Chief Executive, Robert is responsible for overseeing all of the WS Society’s business and activities, which include professional and business services and the events and venue business at the Signet Library.