Doris Littlejohn, pioneering woman lawyer, dies at 89

Doris Littlejohn, the first female chairman of industrial tribunals in the UK, and subsequently President of the Industrial Tribunals (Scotland), has died at the age of 89.

Brought up in a Glasgow tenement with a shared toilet and no bathroom, Dr Littlejohn studied at Glasgow University while undertaking her legal apprenticeship, graduating in 1956. She was in private practice until her chairman appointment in 1976. She was President of the tribunals from 1990 until she retired in 2000.

In an active retirement she was a non-executive director of Law at Work, and a citizens' advice bureau volunteer. She was a member of the Leggatt Committee set up by the Lord Chancellor to review the UK tribunal system. She also served on a Scottish Executive review of post-mortem practice in Scotland, in particular in relation to organ retention; and on the BBC Advisory Council, the Human Genetics Advisory Commission and the General Council of the BBC. She chaired the court of the University of Stirling, the Forth Valley Primary Health NHS Care Trust, and was a vice chair of the MacRobert Arts Centre at Stirling University Campus.

She was awarded the CBE in 1998 for public service, and in 2015 received the Saltire Society Outstanding Women of Scotland Award. The University of Stirling awarded her an honorary degree in 1993.

Dr Littlejohn is survived by three daughters, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Her funeral takes place this Thursday.