Ford, Patrick

Patrick Ford is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Dundee Law School. He studied Classics and English Law at the University of Cambridge and Scots Law at the University of Edinburgh and is a solicitor, Writer to the Signet and member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. He was in private practice for fifteen years, specialising in trust law and tax planning, before joining the School in 1994 to pursue doctoral research in charity law. He combined his doctoral studies with tutoring, then became a full-time member of staff until his retirement from teaching in 2015, leading modules in legal and social theory, human rights and English equity and trusts. From 2003 to 2015 he was co-ordinator and examinations board convenor for the School’s Law with Languages programmes.

As a member of the School’s Charity Law Research Unit, Patrick contributed to proposals for the reform of charity law in Scotland which led to enactment of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. He was a member of the Scottish Executive’s Bill Reference Group for the 2005 Act and of the Scottish Government’s Working Group for development of the Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). He also contributed on behalf of the Unit to the Scottish Law Commission’s projects for reform of the law of trusts and of unincorporated associations. More recently, as a member of the Law Society of Scotland’s Charity Law Sub-Committee, he has participated in the Scottish Government’s ongoing review of Scottish charity law, with input in particular to the Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023. He also contributed through the sub-committee to implementation of the Scottish Law Commission’s recommendations on trust law in the Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Act 2024.

Patrick was appointed an Honorary Research Fellow on his retirement from teaching in 2015. His work as a research fellow has concentrated on charity and trust law but he retains a lively interest in legal theory and human rights.