Russelli iureconsulti pro senatu populoque Edinburgensi habita, ad serenissimam scotorum reginam Annam dum Edinburgum ingreditur 19.
[5] At the North Berwick Witch Trials in 1591, Russell acted as a "procurator", speaking on behalf of Barbara Napier and Euphame MacCalzean.
[7] In 1604 Russell wrote a tract on further political and institutional union between Scotland and England, A Treatise of the Blissid and Happy Unioun, which circulated in manuscript and was published in 1985.
[8] He argues that Scotland ought not to become a "pendicle" of England, but should retain its own legal system and institutions, a proposal which he noted could be found in the old Rough Wooing propaganda tracts of Edward VI and the Duke of Somerset.
[9] As a lawyer, Russell drew up several bonds intended to resolve conflict between families, which were noted by the Privy Council of Scotland, copied into official registers, and preserved.