Current General Council Court Assessors

The supreme governing body of the University is the University Court.  Three of the positions on the University Court are retained for members appointed from the General Council.  Appointments are for four years in the first instance with eligibility, subject to satisfactory appraisal, for re-appointment by the University Court for a further term of four years.  The General Council has input to the appraisal process.

There is currently a vacancy for an Assessor position because former Assessor, The Rt. Hon. Douglas Alexander MP, resigned when he became Minister for Business and Trade following his election as MP for Lothian East in the July 2024 UK Parliamentary election.

The Hon Lady Wolffe (Sarah P L Wolffe KC)

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General Council Assessor to Court 2019-2027

The Hon Lady Wolffe (Sarah P L Wolffe KC) was appointed as a Senator of the College of Justice, Scotland’s Supreme Courts, in 2014. She is one of the Commercial Court judges, and the first woman in Scotland to hold that position. She was called to the Scottish Bar in 1994; appointed a standing junior to the Department of Trade and Industry in 1996, and  took silk in 2008. Her principal areas in practice were in Commercial and Public law. She was one of the founding members of Axiom Advocates. While in practice, she was a contributor or Scottish editor to a number of editions of two legal textbooks,  MacGillivray on Insurance Law and Mithani on Director’s Disqualification. She was one of the UK members on the Panel of Experts looking at the harmonisation of aspects of professional indemnity insurance.  She was also, prior to her appointment, the Chancellor (or legal advisor) to several Bishops in the Scottish Episcopal Church. She was born in the United States and her first degree was from Dartmouth College (graduating Summa cum Laude), one of the Ivy League colleges. After post-graduate work at Balliol College at the University of Oxford, she took a graduate LLB from the University of Edinburgh. Her husband is the Lord Advocate. She has two grown sons (of whom she is inordinately proud).

Mr Jock Millican

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General Council Assessor to Court 2019-2027

Business Angel and Mentor working with SMEs to help them grow and develop through input of sound business knowledge and funding if required. He set up Equity Gap – a business angel syndicate in August 2010 and it now has approximately 150 members and they have invested in 26 companies. He is Chairman of LINC Scotland, the Scottish Business Angel Association and on the Board of a number of SME companies, including Sunamp who make heat batteries and use technology developed at University of Edinburgh.

Born and brought up in the Scottish Borders. Jock attended University of Edinburgh, gaining an Honours degree in Chemical Engineering and then gained a Diploma in Malting and Brewing at Heriot Watt University. He worked with Scottish & Newcastle for almost 30 years in production, operations and logistics roles, with 20 of these years as a Director. In 2006 Jock left S&N and set up his management consultancy, Millican Associates.

In addition to the above, he is currently a member of the General Council Business Committee and was Convener of the Finance & Services Standing Committee.

Outside work his main interest is rugby. He was a Director with the Scottish Rugby Union for 6 years and a Director of 6 Nations Rugby for 4 years. In 2011 he was interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Rugby Union for 5 months. In his playing days he played for many clubs across the UK including Leicester, Heriot’s and Newcastle Northern. Jock gained 3 full caps for Scotland in 1973 while playing for University of Edinburgh. He is the last male player to be capped while playing for University of Edinburgh. He has also been President of Heriot’s Rugby and Edinburgh University Rugby Club.