Family Law Conference 2025 Speakers

Janys M Scott KC

Keynote - King's Counsel, Westwater Advocates

Janys M Scott KC called to the bar in 1992 and took silk in 2007. Her work has spanned all aspects of family law, from high value financial provision to child protection and adoption. She has appeared in sheriff courts, the Court of Session and the Supreme Court. Janys co-edits Green’s Family Law Reports and provides updates to the Scottish Human Rights Service and the Court of Session Practice. Since 2005 she has also worked as a part-time sheriff, giving her an insight into the approach of criminal courts to cases of domestic abuse.

Janys was Chair of the Advocates’ Family Law Association from 2013 to June 2018. She was President of the Part-Time Sheriffs’ Association from 2018 to 2022 and is UK delegate to Family and Succession Committee of CCBE. She chairs the Board of Trustees of the Association for Fostering Kinship and Adoption Scotland and is the acting chair of the board of trustees of the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship. In 2017-2018 she served as an expert panel member for the Strategic Review of Legal Aid. Janys was Director of Westwater Advocates and a Director of Faculty Services Limited from 2019 to 2023.

Professor Gillian Black

The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Law School

Gillian Black is a Commissioner at the Scottish Law Commission, leading on the Civil Remedies for Domestic Abuse project. She is also Professor of Scots Private Law at Edinburgh University, with teaching and research interests in family law, particularly adult relationships, the parent/child relationship, and heraldry and families. Before joining Edinburgh Law School as a Lecturer in 2005, Gillian qualified as a solicitor with Shepherd & Wedderburn. She completed her PhD on publicity and image rights in Scots law in 2009. Gillian is an Academic Associate member of Harcourt Chambers in London, and is an Officer of Arms in the Court of the Lord Lyon, as Carrick Pursuivant.

Dr Sonia Gleeson

Clinical Psychologist and Expert Witness

Dr Sonia Gleeson worked with child and family services in the NHS for approximately twenty years after qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist. In 2024, she launched NEW Psychology (Neurodevelopmental and Expert Witness Psychological Services) and co-founded the Highland Child Development Centre. Across both roles, her background with families experiencing multi-factorial difficulties related to inter-generational trauma, substance misuse, psychiatric, and health conditions, has promoted strong skills in deconstructing complexity. Additional training in the impact of trauma and neglect at sensitive periods of brain development, alongside family therapy training, has aided the process of sharing clear yet comprehensive explanations, along with recommendations, to both families and courts. These often require differentiating, or considering the interaction between, early adversity and neurodevelopmental symptomatology.

Professor Kenneth Norrie

University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Kenneth Norrie, FRSE, is Emeritus Professor at Strathclyde Law School, where he taught Family Law for 33 years before his retiral in 2023. He specialises in child protection law and same-sex families and has published extensively in these, and other, fields over the past 40 years. He has also held visiting positions at Cape Town, Sydney, Wellington, Regensburg and Vienna Universities. He acted as adviser to the Scottish Parliament as it considered what became the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006, the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 and the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011, and he provided a specialised report on child protection legislation for the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.