Alistair Duff

Alistair John MacKenzie Duff (born 1954) is a former Scottish solicitor and sheriff who qualified as a solicitor-advocate in 1993, and later became Director of the Judicial Institute of Scotland before resigning after being arrested and charged with undisclosed offences.

[1] Susan Duff was a defence advocate at Compass Chambers in Edinburgh, subsequently appointed a Sheriff in October 2021 for Tayside, Central and Fife regions.

[2] In December 2021 he abruptly retired from the Judicial Institute for Scotland following his arrest in October 2021.

The offence consisted of being overheard, whilst watching a video, making sexual and a racial remark to another man during the break in an online training session for justices of the peace, two of whom reported him to the police.

[29][30][31] Concerns about the apparent secrecy surrounding the case were expressed in various quarters,[32] including Member of Scottish Parliament Russell Findlay who submitted two written questions to the Scottish Parliament asking for the publication of ministerial correspondence relating to Duff's arrest and resignation [33] and legal advice received in ruling against the MSP, all of which were rejected.