Current Vacancies

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 The Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland (JABS) invites applications from suitably qualified individuals who wish to be considered for appointment to the Office of Sheriff. This is an important opportunity to contribute to justice in Scotland.

The Office of Sheriff Role Profile, provided by the Judicial Office for Scotland, provides applicants with information about the role. The salary for a full-time Sheriff is £157,705.

It is expected that successful applicants will commence training with the Judicial Institute at the end of October 2024, and take up post on completion of this induction.

There are currently 3 x full time vacancies and 1 x 0.5 FTE post. Two of the full time vacancies are floating posts which have a requirement of a 2 year residency expectation to stay in post before a transfer will be considered. The remaining full time post and the 0.5 FTE post have a residency expectation of 5 years.

See further details on these vacancies and the requirements below.

Sheriffdom

Posts/Base Court(s)

Further details

South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway

1 x Sheriff / Stranraer Sheriff Court

This post is in a single-Sheriff court and the successful candidate will need to be able to tackle all areas of Sheriff court business.

Applicants who do not have experience of all these areas to date should be able to demonstrate an ability to learn new areas of law.

*Given its geographical location a 90 minute resident requirement has been applied to this post.

North Strathclyde

1 x Sheriff / Dunoon (Floating)

This vacancy requires a candidate with a criminal or family law background.

Grampian, Highlands and Islands

0.5 fte Sheriff / Aberdeen Sheriff Court

It is intended that the successful candidate will operate on the basis of four weeks on and four weeks off. This vacancy would require someone with a criminal background.

Please note, although this post is 0.5 FTE, this is a salaried sheriff appointment. As set out in section 15(1) and (2) of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 an individual holding the office of sheriff must not, for so long as the individual holds the office engage, whether directly or indirectly, in practice as a solicitor or advocate or in any other business, be in partnership with, or employed by, a person so engaged, or act as agent for a person so engaged. Section 15(3) does not apply. In addition to this page 31 in the 'Guidance to Judicial Office Holders on Judicial Ethics in Scotland' gives more detail on the type of activity a salaried sheriff needs to avoid.

Tayside, Central and Fife

1 x Sheriff / Tayside, Central and Fife (Floating)

Sheriff Principal will agree a suitable base court with the successful candidate after their recommendation is accepted.

For all posts, successful applicants will have to be flexible in that they may have to work in any court in the Sheriffdom, or even across Sheriffdoms if necessary.  This will be more prevalent for those appointed to floating posts, and each Sheriff Principal will agree a base court with those appointed to floating posts (unless stated above) and discuss the courts they would expect them to work from on a regular basis. There is a journey residency requirement of one-hour from your base court as instructed by the Lord President. *The post in Stranraer Sheriff Court is an exception to this. Before applying, applicants should be confident that they are able to meet the demands of these posts, including the possibility of regularly spending time away from their permanent home.

The essential requirement for the role of a Sheriff is to possess the ability and legal standing to perform the functions of the office. This requires knowledge or experience not only of civil law and practice but also that relating to summary and solemn crime.

It is essential that those applying for appointment as a Sheriff who do not have knowledge or experience in each of these disciplines demonstrate the ability to acquire knowledge in unfamiliar areas of the law.

We encourage applications from a wide and diverse range of suitably qualified people. The principles of fair and open competition will apply and recommendation for appointment will be made solely on merit.

Please ensure that you read our Guidance Note in full before you start your application.

To apply please click here.

Applications must be submitted by noon on Friday 22 March 2024.

 

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