Sandy Bannerman: Rory Bannerman - Being a Sheriff

On 13^th April, Hawick Rotarians welcomed local lawyer Rory Bannerman as their guest speaker Introduced by his father Sandy, Rory spoke of his work since January 2022 as a part-time Summary Sheriff. A booking agency arranges for 50 Sheriffs to be distributed around Courts as they are needed, and Rory has presided over 50 court days since he began. He spoke of four types of cases which could come before him: 'summary cause' which might include social landlord eviction applications, simple procedures where sums of up to £5000 might be involved, family cases which include the custody of children, and relatively low level criminal cases, which might lead to sentences of up to twelve months.

Rory spoke of the application process which he had gone through, at a time when there was a demand to clear the backlog after Covid. There were smiles when he described the process of being fitted for his wig and gown. He spoke also of the logistics of travelling to a variety of Sheriff Courts, and of the different nature of cases on different days of the week!

Wide ranging questions followed before Vice President Ron Smith gave a deserved vote of thanks.