Gillian is the lead Commissioner on the aspects of family law and executry law projects.
Background
Professor Gillian Black was appointed a part-time Commissioner in April 2020, and the appointment became a full-time one from 1 June 2023. A three-year extension commenced on 22 April 2025.
She is Professor of Scots Private Law at the University of Edinburgh, with teaching and research interests principally in family law, contract law, and privacy. She also has a research interest in heraldry, and has published widely across these fields.
Before joining Edinburgh Law School as a Lecturer in 2005, Gillian qualified as a solicitor in 2002 with Shepherd & Wedderburn in Edinburgh, working in their Commercial Contracts division, and then spent 18 months as a teaching assistant in the School of Law at the University of Glasgow. She completed her PhD on publicity rights in Scots law in 2009. She is a graduate of the Universities of Glasgow (LLB, DPLP) and Edinburgh (PhD).
