He studied law at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (BA 1971), Harvard University (Joseph Hodges Choate Memorial Fellow, 1971–72; LLM 1972) and the University of Edinburgh School of Law (LLB 1974), and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1976, taking silk in 1988.

He served as Standing Junior Counsel to the Department of Industry from 1984 to 1986 and to the Inland Revenue from 1986 to 1988, and as an Advocate Depute from 1999 to 2001.

[2][3] He is co-author with John St. Clair of The Law of Corporate Insolvency in Scotland, first published in 1988 and revised in 1992 and 2004.

On 1 January 2007, Lord Drummond Young succeeded Lord Eassie for a five-year term as chairman of the Scottish Law Commission, an advisory board to the Scottish Government which reviews, and recommends reform of, the Law of Scotland.

[7] Lord Drummond Young married Elizabeth Mary Campbell-Kease in 1991, with whom he has a daughter, Anna, who has appeared on University Challenge.