Legally Righting a Wrong: Scottish Witch Pardons and the Law
Tuesday 02 June 2026 17:00 - 19:00
Location: His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen
The School of Law and Social Sciences is marking its sponsorship of the forthcoming production of Legally Blonde with a guest talk by Dr Claire Mitchell KC. Dr Mitchell KC was called to the Bar in 2003, having been a solicitor in private practice since 1996.
Claire has been instructed in many first instance trials, Fatal Accident Inquiries and Extradition cases over the past 23 years. Her main practice has been in the Court of Appeal, with an emphasis on cases involving complex and novel legal arguments and raising constitutional and human rights issues.
She has conducted innumerable appeals over the past two decades, and attended the Privy Council and Supreme Court on several occasions in relation to such cases.
In recent years, she has been heavily involved in the campaign to pardon those 4000 Scottish people - mainly women - who were wrongly accused of witchcraft. This led to a formally apology from the Scottish Government on behalf of the country in 2023. Claire and Zoe Venditozzi released a book "How to Kill a Witch, a Guide for the Patriarchy" in 2025.