Catherine Anne Smith, Baroness Smith of Cluny, (born 4 May 1973), is a British lawyer and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

who has served as

Advocate General for Scotland His Majesty's Advocate General for Scotland is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, whose duty it is to advise the The Crown, Crown and His Majesty's Government on Scots law. The Office of the Advocate General for Scotland is a Departments o ...

since 2024. She is the youngest daughter of former Labour Party leader John Smith.

Early life and education

Catherine Anne Smith was born on 4 May 1973 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

as the youngest of three daughters. Her father, John Smith, was at that time the member of Parliament for

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

, and later served as the leader of the Labour Party from 1992 until his death in 1994. Her mother, Elizabeth Smith (), was made a

and appointed to the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

as Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill in 1995. Her elder sister, Sarah Smith, is a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

journalist. Smith was educated at

Boroughmuir High School Boroughmuir High School is a non-denominational secondary school in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Buildings The school was founded in 1904, and located at 22–24 Warrender Park Crescent, overlooking Bruntsfield Links in a b ...

in Edinburgh. She studied history and law at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, gaining

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(MA) and

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

(LLB) degrees, followed by a

Diploma in Legal Practice A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offi ...

(DipLP) from the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

Career

After working as a

paralegal A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant or paralegal specialist, is a legal professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with an admission to practice law. The market for p ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Smith was a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and

Oban Oban ( ; meaning ''The Little Bay'') is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William, Highland, Fort William. During the tourist seaso ...

from 1999 to 2004. She was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

as a member of the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates () is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a const ...

in 2007, and was appointed

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 2021. Smith has sat as a part-time

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

since 2022. She has primarily worked in reparation and public law, specialising in cases involving

personal injury Personal injury is a legal term for an Injury (law), injury to the body, mind, or emotions, as opposed to an injury to property. In common law, common law jurisdictions the term is most commonly used to refer to a type of tort lawsuit in which the ...

, clinical negligence and judicial review. Prior to her appointment as Advocate General for Scotland in 2024, she was a member of Compass Chambers. Smith was a founding member of Justice Scotland, an arm of the London-based non-governmental organisation

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

, which promotes law reform and human rights, and served as its vice chair from 2012 to 2022. She served as counsel to the

Investigatory Powers Tribunal The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) is a first-instance tribunal and superior court of record in the United Kingdom. It is primarily an inquisitorial court. It hears complaints about surveillance by public bodies, primarily the intelligen ...

. Between 2012 and 2021, she was Standing Junior Counsel to the Advocate General, serving under Lord Wallace of Tankerness,

Lord Keen of Elie Richard Sanderson Keen, Baron Keen of Elie (born 29 March 1954) is a British lawyer and Conservative Party politician. He was Advocate General for Scotland from May 2015 until his resignation on 16 September 2020. Early life Keen was educate ...

and Lord Stewart of Dirleton. Smith was appointed to the panel of counsel to the

Equality and Human Rights Commission The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is a non-departmental public body in Great Britain, established by the Equality Act 2006 with effect from 1 October 2007. The Commission has responsibility for the promotion and enforcement of e ...

in 2015, and has been an advocate member of the Scottish Civil Justice Council since 2020. Smith co-founded and has chaired the John Smith Centre for Public Service at the University of Glasgow since 2014. As a trustee of the John Smith Trust since 2005, she visited

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

and

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

in 2023 to support rule-of-law and human-rights projects.

Advocate General for Scotland

On 29 August 2024, Smith was appointed

, a law officer of the Crown who advises the British government on

Scots law Scots law () is the List of country legal systems, legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing Civil law (legal system), civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different histori ...

. Her appointment marked the first time that all three Scottish law officers were women, alongside

Dorothy Bain Dorothy Ruth Bain is a Scottish Faculty of Advocates, advocate who has served as Lord Advocate since 2021. She is the second woman to hold the office after Elish Angiolini, Lady Elish Angiolini KC. Bain previously served as the Crown Office and ...

(

Lord Advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate (), is the principal legal adviser of both the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolution, devolved powers of the Scottish P ...

) and

Ruth Charteris Ruth Barbara Charteris KC (born 1973) is a Scottish advocate who has served as Solicitor General for Scotland since 2021. In addition to being the Solicitor General for Scotland, she has been a legally qualified chair of the Scottish Social Ser ...

(

Solicitor General for Scotland His Majesty's Solicitor General for Scotland () is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Lord Advocate, whose duty is to advise the Scottish Government on Scots Law. They are also responsible for the Crown Office and P ...

). Smith was created a

as ''Baroness Smith of Cluny, of Cluny in the City of Edinburgh'', on 9 October to allow her to sit in the

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith of Cluny, Catherine Smith, Baroness 1973 births Living people 21st-century British politicians 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century King's Counsel 21st-century Scottish lawyers 21st-century Scottish women lawyers Advocates general for Scotland Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Children of peers and peeresses created life peers Daughters of life peers Labour Party (UK) life peers Lawyers from Edinburgh Life peeresses created by Charles III Life peers created by Charles III Members of the Faculty of Advocates Nobility from Edinburgh People educated at Boroughmuir High School Politicians from Edinburgh Scottish King's Counsel Scottish solicitors