Legal Research Skills

• Comparative legal research.
• Summaries of the relevant law pertaining to a topic.
• Summaries of the passage of specific legislation (consultations, law commission reports, parliamentary briefings, public petitions etc.)
• Systematic reviews of case law.
• Extraction of data from legal documents for quantitative analysis.

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Opinion informs Law & Legal Process

Dr Mackay's research based opinion has impacted on the following:
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• Her report for Scotland's Commissioner for Children & Young People has been used for training within the Judicial Institute for Scotland by Dr Marsha Scott, Chief Executive of Scottish Women's Aid.
• Dr Mackay responded to a request for opinion from the Family Law Committee of the Scottish Civil Justice Council on Form F9 (which is used by courts in Scotland to enable children to express a view in family actions).  The rules of court have been amended following this consultation to ensure children are not sent potentially distressing court papers.
• Her research informed opinion for Scottish Parliament Public Petition PE1513, significantly informed the Scottish Government position not to force mothers to name the father of their child on the birth certificate.