Willie [William] graduated from Cambridge University with an M.A. in English Literature in 1978. He then undertook Basic Army Training, passing the Regular Commissions Board before embarking on a legal career by sitting the Law Society of Scotland exams. In his Diploma in Professional Legal Practice Willie [William] won the Law Society Prize in Wills, Trusts and Executries and the Joseph Mellick prize in Advocacy and Pleading. He joined Mitchells Roberton in 1987 and became a private client partner in 1991 remaining there until 2002 before being called to the Scots Bar as an advocate. In 2005 Willie [William] returned to Mitchells Roberton as a full-time consultant and knowledge management adviser. He provides in-house advice to Partners and staff, drafting letters of advice for clients and bespoke drafting.
He is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners; a part-time tutor on the Diploma in Legal Practice at Glasgow University; a member of the Law Society of Scotland Trust and Succession sub-committee; was a member of the Advisory Group for the Scottish Law Commission Trust Review Project; and co-authored, with James Kessler QC, Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in Scotland (now in its 2nd edition) described in its foreword by Lord Tyre as “a milestone in the expression and development of Scots trust law.”
