Honorific-Prefix: | The Honourable |
Lord Burns | |
Office: | Senator of the College of Justice |
Term Start: | 2012 |
Nominator: | Alex Salmond As First Minister |
Appointer: | Elizabeth II |
Birth Date: | 1952 [1] |
Birth Place: | Scotland |
Alma Mater: | Dundee |
Profession: | Advocate |
Website: | Judiciary of Scotland |
David Spencer Burns, Lord Burns (born 1952) is a Senator of the College of Justice.
Burns was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1977 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1991. Before admission, he worked as a legal assistant in New York and California. He practiced family, personal injury and planning. Between 1989 and 1991, he was full-time Advocate Depute. He was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Social Security. During the Lockerbie trial (2000–2002), Burns was one of the advocates representing Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
Burns served as a temporary judge from 2002 to 2005, and he became a part-time sheriff in 2007. On 1 June 2012, it was announced he had been appointed a Senator of the College of Justice,[2] and he took up the post on 12 July 2012.[3]