Public appointment: Members appointed to the Scottish Legal Aid Board

The Minister for Victims and Community Safety today announced the appointments of David Fisken and Amy Hunter as legal members, Alexandra Walker as a member with Courts experience and Maureen Malllon and Patricia Stewart as a non-legal members of the Scottish Legal Aid Board.

Members

David Fisken has been a full time Advocate Depute since 2025, prosecuting cases in the High Court of Justiciary throughout the country. Prior to this role he practiced as a criminal defence solicitor for over 20 years, and a partner in a firm in Glasgow for 12 of those years. He is a non-executive director on the board for Snowsport Scotland Ltd, the governing body for the sport in Scotland, with a particular focus on governance and environmental sustainability.

Amy Hunter is an Advocate at the Scottish Bar, and a member of Black Chambers. She specialises in Criminal and children's law. She has practiced in both the public and private sectors as a criminal defence practitioner and as a Procurator Fiscal Depute. She regularly appears in Courts throughout Scotland. She brings substantial knowledge of Scots Criminal law and an understanding of how the Criminal Court system operated in practice to the Board.

Alexandra Walker worked as a criminal defence solicitor in private practice for nearly 40 years prior to her retirement in 2025. Earlier in her career she also gained experience of civil court practice but chose to specialise in criminal defence work after a few years of working in both areas. Sandra has appeared in criminal cases on a daily basis in the Justice of the Peace and Sheriff Court throughout my career. She qualified as a criminal solicitor advocate in 2012 and has since then also appeared in the High Court acting as junior counsel and also personally conducting a number of High Court trials. Sandra previously acted as a legal representative in the Children’s Hearing System and was appointed as a criminal peer reviewer in 2018. She has extensive experience of how the courts run and of the criminal legal aid system.

Maureen Mallon is a retired senior civil servant who has focussed throughout her career on improving public services and increasing public confidence in services. Her most recent post was Chief Executive of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator where she successfully led a major change programme. She was an HMI for many years and an Assistant Director in Education Scotland delivering national projects. Maureen is a highly experienced board member including a large UK charity, Chairing of the CeVe board which was a ministerial appointment and Chaired the Scottish Delivery Bodies Group which brought together the Chief Executives of Scotland’s major public bodies.

Patricia Stewart has over 25 years leadership experience in public, private and third sector organisations. She has supported organisations and leadership teams to deliver successful strategic change.  This has included mergers, acquisitions and most recently working with a Scottish Charity to deliver 100% growth in three years. She is Council Member of the Scottish Social Services Council, (SSSC) and a member of their Audit and Assurance Committee.

Appointments

Alexandra Walker’s appointment will be for 3 years and will run from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2029. Maureen Mallon, David Fisken, and Patricia Stewart’s appointments will be for 4 years and will run from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2030 and Amy Hunters’s appointment will be for 5 years and will run from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031

The appointments are regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.

Remuneration

The appointments are part-time and attract a remuneration of £249 for a time commitment of 3.5 days per month.

Other ministerial appointments

Patricia  Stewart is a Member of the Scottish Social services Council for which she receives remuneration of £220 per day, for a time commitment of 3 days per month.

David Fisken, Amy Hunter, Maureen Mallon and Alexandra Walker do not hold any other public appointments.

Political activity 

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public.   

Maureen Mallon, David Fisken, Amy Hunter, Sandra Walker and Tricia Stewart have had no political activity within the last five years. 

Background

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) was set up in 1987 to manage legal aid in Scotland and is a non-departmental public body responsible to the Scottish Government. Legal aid allows people who would otherwise not be able to afford it, to get help for their legal problems.