Claire Mitchell

KC
Alma materUniversity of Glasgow
Known forCampaign for posthumous pardons for witches of Scotland

Claire Mitchell is a Kings Counsel working in Scotland. She has a particular interest in constitutional, human rights and sentencing questions.

Career

She has an honours degree in law from University of Glasgow and became a QC (now KC) in 2019 and was called at the Bar in 2003. Before that she was a solicitor in private practice since 1996.[1][2]

Mitchell was President of the Scottish Criminal Bar Association from 2016 to 2018.

Views

Mitchell hopes that laws used to dispense historic pardons can be used in these cases, as they have been done for the people in Salem, Massachusetts.[3][4]

She supports the use of new technology to ensure business continuity for law courts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic [5] She said “Covid has forced us all well past where we thought we would be in 2021. We are now seeing the benefits of investing in technology. Measures which increase efficiency save money which can then be reinvested in measures which increase efficiency – it’s a virtuous circle.”[5]

She leads the 'Witches of Scotland' campaign with Zoe Venditozzi to seek posthumous justice for women historically convicted and executed as witches in Scotland.[6][7] The campaign used Twitter as its main channel to reach the public and a petition to the Scottish parliament as a way to influence policy makers.[7][8][3]

Other roles

She is on the panel of the Bloody Scotland book club [9][10]

She is one of the legal experts involved in the 2021 TV series Murder Island, based on a drama written by Ian Rankin.[11][2]

Recognition

She received a "Special Recognition Award" in 2013 from Law Awards of Scotland.

References

  1. ↑ "Claire Mitchell QC - Compass Chambers". www.compasschambers.com. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
  2. 1 2 Young, Jacqueline Wake. "Murder Island: Behind the scenes with legal expert Claire Mitchell QC". Press and Journal. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
  3. 1 2 Robertson, Aileen. "Top lawyer at forefront of campaign to pardon people accused of witchcraft backs call for memorial in Fife". The Courier. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
  4. ↑ "BBC World Service - Newsday, The fight for justice for Scotland's 'witches'". BBC. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
  5. 1 2 Garavelli, Dani. "The New Normal: Claire Mitchell QC on why digital devices must revolutionise courts post Covid-19". The Sunday Post. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
  6. ↑ "Lawyer of the Month: Claire Mitchell QC". Scottish Legal News. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
  7. 1 2 "Claire Mitchell QC seeks posthumous justice for Scotland's 'witches'". Scottish Legal News. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
  8. ↑ "Holyrood committee backs pardons for 4,000 executed for witchcraft". Scottish Legal News. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
  9. ↑ "Bloody Scotland Book Club". Bloody Scotland. 2021-05-03. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
  10. ↑ Bloody Scotland Book Club: May, retrieved 2021-10-29
  11. ↑ "Scots lawyers in new Ian Rankin series for Channel 4 – Murder Island". Scottish Legal News. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
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