THE NEW Advocate General for Scotland has admitted he would probably have been a bar tender if he did not go in to law.
Keith Stewart QC is to replace Lord Keen after he resigned last month over concerns with the UK Internal Market Bill.
In an online interview about his career, Mr Stewart also said "badly drafted" and "unnecessary" legislation were "things that can irritate" him.
He explained: "I sometimes think we restrict more stuff than perhaps we ought.
"Narrowness and badly drafted legislation... I think it can get in the way of resolving the real question at issue."
When asked what his alternative career may have been should he have not gone into the law, Mr Stewart said he came from a family of hoteliers, and he could have seen himself as a bartender.
He said: "I'd like to think if I wasn't at the Faculty of Advocates I could still perform a socially useful function at another kind of bar."
The QC also said he measured success in the profession as having " the trust of the bench and the respect of our fellow professionals", and explained: "Those things are worth striving for.
"Success, you often think in terms of what other people have which you might have. I'm not trying to sound pious but a successful advocate is someone who has those things. Someone who has those things should always be trying to maintain them.
"The things you can get early on in your career, you can also lose them by playing fast and loose, making mistakes and we are all prone to do that.
"To be trusted by the court, it's a good thing to feel like you have [that]... to hear them address you in a particular way...When you appear hopefully they are not thinking 'Not that utter t**t again', you know. "
The East Lothian resident became QC in 2011, is the chairman of the Bass Rock Cricket Club and was nicknamed "Boff" in primary school as he was thought to be " a swot", he said.
As revealed by The Herald, Mr Stewart is to take up the role vacated by Lord Keen of Elie who quit last month.
The Peer told the Prime Minister he had "found it increasingly difficult to reconcile what I consider to be my obligations as a law officer with your policy intentions with respect to the Internal Markets Bill."
An official announcement from Downing Street released today read: "The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Keith Stewart QC as Advocate General for Scotland.
"Her Majesty has also been pleased to signify Her intention of conferring a peerage of the United Kingdom for Life on Mr Stewart."
The new Advocate General for Scotland said: "I am very pleased to be appointed as the Advocate General for Scotland. It is a great honour to be one of the UK Government’s law officers, and I very much look forward to playing a part in supporting the work of the UK Government.”
Alister Jack, Secretary of State for Scotland, said: "I very much welcome the appointment of Keith Stewart QC as the new Advocate General for Scotland.
"Mr Stewart is an experienced and highly-respected legal expert, and will be an excellent law officer. I look forward to working with him on the many important issues ahead.”
Joanna Cherry QC MP, the SNP Justice and Home Affairs spokesperson at Westminster said Mr Stewart may 'live to regret' his decision to take on the new role.
She explained: "The previous Advocate General said he found it increasingly difficult to reconcile his obligations as a Law Officer with the Government’s policy intentions. Those have not changed and are unlikely to change, this may become a decision Keith Stewart lives to regret."
Ms Cherry also said there was no appetite within the Scottish legal profession for the UK Government's future plans, adding that the Prime Minister's recent comments regarding 'lefty lawyers' had made the relationship more strained.
She said: "The delay in appointing a replacement for the distinguished silk Richard Keen QC shows how much distaste there is amongst the Scottish legal profession for the UK Government given the total disregard for the rule of law and the offensive and dangerous way the Tories like to describe lawyers and judges for simply doing their jobs.
“On a personal level, I wish the new Advocate General well, but he should be mindful that the Dean of Faculty only last week had to issue an unprecedented rebuke to his new clients the, UK Government, saying.
"I simply cannot fathom why it is thought in any way appropriate to attempt to vilify, in public, those that are simply doing their job, in accordance with the rule of law
"In my experience, the majority of lawyers north and south of the border share his concerns."
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