Gerry Moynihan QC

Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...

 is a Scottish advocate who was Standing Junior Counsel for the Scottish Office

Scottish Office

The Scottish Office was a department of the United Kingdom Government from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland...

 in relation to planning matters from 1990 to 1995. Moynihan was appointed QC in 1997 and was an Advocate Depute from 1995 to 1998.

Wide range of litigation

Gerry Moynihan undertakes a wide range of civil litigation from commercial disputes to professional negligence. Moynihan has an extensive practice in Human Rights and Administrative Law, and is instructed on behalf of public bodies including the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission

Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission is a non-departmental public body in Scotland, established by the Criminal Procedure Act 1995 ....

, for whom he acted in recovering records from the Lord Advocate

Lord Advocate

Her Majesty's Advocate , known as the Lord Advocate , is the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for both civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolved powers of the Scottish Parliament...

. He obtained compensation for a number of litigants in a class action

Class action

In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...

 in 2005.
He is currently Counsel to the Fingerprint Inquiry

Fingerprint Inquiry

The Fingerprint Inquiry is a public inquiry set up by Scottish Government ministers under the Inquiries Act 2005 to look at the steps which were taken to identify and verify the fingerprints associated with the case of HM Advocate v McKie in 1999...

, an inquiry set by the Scottish Government under the Inquiries Act 2005

Inquiries Act 2005

The Inquiries Act 2005 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. According to the Department for Constitutional Affairs, the Act "is designed to provide a framework under which future inquiries, set up by Ministers into events that have caused or have potential to cause public concern,...

.

Previous cases

• Land Securities v Scottish Ministers [2006] UKHL 48, 2006 SLT 1019
• Somerville v Scottish Ministers [2007] UKHL 44, 2008 SC(HL) 45
• Spiers v Ruddy [2007] UKPC D2, 2008 SLT 39
• B v Murray [2008] UKHL 32, 2008 SC (HL) 146
• Helow v Advocate General [2008] UKHL 62, 2008 SLT 967

Conflict of interest?

The Fingerprint Inquiry was embroiled in controversy on its opening day in June 2009 when it was reported that Gerry Moynihan QC, senior counsel to the inquiry, has a potential conflict of interest

Conflict of interest

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....

relating to the Shirley McKie case.