Obituary: Liz Wilson, LLB, NP, MAR
Elizabeth May Wilson, who held senior legal positions with Perth Town Council and Perth and Kinross District Council, has died peacefully at Bridge View House nursing home in Dundee at the age of 73.
She was one of Scotland’s youngest ever solicitors, and the Perth appointments came early in an illustrious career which included being a tribunal chair, a university tutor - and a professional reflexologist.
Born in London in November, 1946 to Scottish parents, Liz was raised and educated in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire.
An outstanding pupil at Wishaw High School, she gained her LLB degree at Glasgow University in 1966, aged just 19 – and too young to be a practising lawyer.
She then spent a“year out”in America, studying sociology, psychology, politics and philosophy at DePaul University, Chicago.
On her return, Liz became a law apprentice with Glasgow Corporation - and at long last was able to be formally enrolled as a solicitor in October, 1969.
She joined a Wishaw law firm in 1971, before setting up her own business which amalgamated with another Wishaw practice in 1973.
Public sector appointments followed - as senior legal assistant and depute clerk of court for Perth Town Council in 1974-75, and as depute director of law and administration for Perth and Kinross District Council, with special responsibility for housing and public health, between 1975 and 1983. During that time she also gained awards in food hygiene; anatomy, physiology and health at Perth College.
From 1983-1993, she and her great friend Fiona E Raitt were founding partners of Dundee law firm Wilson and Raitt, where they made their mark in sheriff court circles.
The caseload revolved around family breakdowns, children’s hearings, and domestic violence.
Between 1985 and 1990, Liz was appointed a safeguarder to represent children at panel hearings and at Dundee Sheriff Court.
She was a good tennis player and golfer, and during many summers sailed in 60ft traditional wooden boats as part of the voyage crew on the west coast to the Hebrides and St Kilda.
Other passions included the natural world and mountains in particular, photography, seabirds – and drumming.
She also trained in drystone dyking, which she loved and achieved good proficiency as a member of a charitable trust doing projects in Perthshire, Fife, and Angus.
Liz was a part-time appeal tribunals chair for almost 10 years, covering child support, social security and medical law.
She was appointed a convener member of mental health tribunals for Scotland in 2004, where her style was described as“quiet, effective and commanding.”
Popular with her medical colleagues on panels, she retired from the Scottish mental health tribunals in 2016, aged 69, and was popular with her medical colleagues on panels.
In a remarkable career addition, she became a professional reflexologist in Dundee in 1993.
At the same time, she was a legal panel member of the appeals service, and also a tutor at Dundee University for three years in solicitor/client relationships and on professional ethics.
As a Buddhist, she visited Nepal to see projects to build schools, hospitals and temples in remote areas after making a millennium commitment to raise money for the stupa project for world peace.
She also furthered the peace project, set up by Samye Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre in the Scottish Borders, with a one-month pilgrimage in Tibet.
Liz was also a celebrant at the centre, officiating at weddings.
She is survived by five brothers and one sister.