Faith Currie

• Operational responsibility for the team within COPFS that has responsibility for the initial receipt of all sudden, suspicious, unexpected or unexplained deaths within Scotland.
• Manage a large team of lawyers and VIA staff, across a geographically diverse area where I am required to gain credibility through strong, visible management skills.
• Collaborate extensively and regularly with external agencies including Police Scotland, SCTS, and the NHS, and third sector agencies including Scottish Mountain Rescue and various charitable organisations who support bereaved individuals and families in order to share learning in how best to investigate reportable deaths and support families through the investigation process.
• Facilitate communication between other departments within COPFS to foster strong collegiate working practices that achieve thorough, high quality, and consistent investigations outcomes for bereaved families.
• Identify and highlight organisational risks and put in processes to minimise risks and mitigate against the potential for reputational damage.
• Regularly research, interpret and advise team, peers, Law Officers and Scottish Government on relevant legal framework to provide accurate legal guidance.
• Regularly prepare comprehensive reports on ongoing death investigations for senior management and Law Officer review.
• Empathetically provide personal support to those I manage, and also the wider team, to ensure the continued welfare of staff working in such a high pressure department within COPFS with a high associated risk of Vicarious Trauma .
• Regularly facilitate training sessions on legal and COPFS policy matters to increase staff knowledge, awareness and skills.
• Manage the quality of documents being lodged in court for FAI's.
• Regularly meet with counterparts in the Coroner's Office to compare investigative strategies and themes for investigation to identify areas requiring improvement.
• Work to standardise processes across the unit to achieve quality and consistency for families.
• Represent SFIU and COPFS confidently and professionally at external events including conferences and Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) simulation events.
• Have advised Scottish Government on proposals for reform.
• Reliably respond to time-sensitive queries quickly and with detailed and accurate information to provide Senior Managers and Law Officers with essential, time critical knowledge.
• Oversee the unit's obligations to fully investigate deaths in line with legislation, with a particular focus on obligations under Article 2 of the ECHR.

• APF for summary and solemn work across the Highland and Islands area in the Sheriffdom of G,H&I.
• Operational responsibility for local court COVID recovery policies in H&I Liaised.
• Regularly liaised with external agencies, in particular SCTS and the local criminal bar to discuss and monitor successful court recovery processes including developing local processes to encourage better and earlier communication to encourage earlier resolution of cases.
• Lead in introducing, developing and championing remote juries as the first jurisdiction to re-instate Sheriff solemn business during COIVD recovery in despite marked resistance from the local bar and some adverse political comment.
• Sustained high levels of organisation with attention to detail to KPI's and complex rota management.
• Exercised excellent judgement when managing sensitive information, maintaining professionalism and confidentiality at all times.
• Communicated clearly and empathetically with victims and witnesses of crime from diverse backgrounds, facilitating understanding of complicated legal processes.
• Maintained up-to-date knowledge of changes in legislation and internal policies and processes to provide fair, consistent and victim focussed access to the criminal justice system.
• Guided or lead on conducting thorough legal research to support the team in robust prosecution of complex cases.
• Lead by example by carrying out court duties where appropriate. Demonstrated advanced advocacy skills in high profile and complex cases with high reputational risk.
• Travelled extensively for court appearances across the country, ensuring consistent cover for all necessary courts, even in remote areas where travel restrictions often made that challenging.
• Collaborated effectively with colleagues - legal and administrative - both within the Sheriffdom and elsewhere in COPFS to facilitate collegiate working where required.
• Built strong relationships with my team, peers, external stakeholder, and the public ensuring their trust and confidence throughout the legal process.
• Provided support to my team, fostering a supportive work environment.
• Prepared briefings for Law Officers in high profile and complex cases.
• Prepared cases, and guided my team equally to do so with robust evidence and ensuring timely disclosure.
• Liaised with colleagues to identify required work, delegate tasks and speed up progress.
• Educated team on best practices to uphold departmental standards and values.
• Developed and delivered departmental strategy particularly during COVID recovery to improve service in challenging times.
• Monitored performance across team and tackled and challenged poor performance.

• Principal Depute in Edinburgh Sherriff and Jury pre-court team during peak COVID time.
• Lead by example to maintain morale and ensure welfare of staff who were frontline workers during challenging and anxious times.
• Constantly reacted to changes in government and medical advice to strive to maintain work pace within the team despite extreme challenges in terms of court estate and in obtaining evidence during the most stringent COVID restrictions.
• Maintained a strong focus on pre-COVID extended time bar reporting timescales within the team to prevent reliance on extended time bars in the future and the resulting reputational risk associated with cases time barring,
• Regularly liaised with team, senior managers and external stakeholders to review changing guidance and each organisation's response to same.

• Principal Depute in Edinburgh Summary team.
• Day-to-day responsibility for managing a team of 18 deputes with varying degrees of experience and skill.
• Day-to-day responsibility for ensuring that all summary courts in Edinburgh were appropriately prepared and covered on a daily basis by suitably skilled and trained staff.
• Changed and adapted existing processes relating to activities such as the processing of undertaking marking and search warrant applications to improve quality and efficiency.
• Regularly liaised with external stakeholders including SCTS and Police Scotland to monitor and improve quality of caseload and improve the service provided to victims and witnesses.
• Represented COPFS and senior management at external conferences and groups such as MATAC and court liaison boards to ensure that the views and needs of COPFS were fully and accurately presented and included in any changes in policy and procedure.

• Project leader for the COPFS Service Improvement, Model Office initiative.
• Developed a strategy for the Edinburgh Model Office based on feedback and research carried out with the guidance and expertise of the Institute for Customer Service.
• Undertook and completed high level customer service training through the accredited First Impressions training course delivered by the Institute for Customer Service.
• Cascaded the learning of the First Impressions training to peers to develop a team of staff within COPFS who were trained to an accredited standard in First Impressions training.
• Carried out extensive research with customers to identify areas for improvement within COPFS processes and practices and then devised strategies to implement these strategies in Edinburgh with a view to wider roll-out cross COPFS.
• Presented project aims, objectives and outcomes to Senior Management and the Senior Management Board to demonstrate the work of the project and ensure senior management awareness and commitment to the continued work of the department on improving customer service.
• Advised management of customer service trends, creating proactive strategies to maintain best practices.
• Improved departmental processes by analysing customer feedback and service trends.

• Trainee Procurator Fiscal and Procurator Fiscal depute in various roles within COPFS including:

- Local Court in Edinburgh, Airdrie and Dundee

- NICP

- High Court Major Crime

- High Court Homicide

- High Court Sexual Offences

- Appeals

- SOCD

- Policy

• Carried out all duties required and expected of a PFD to an exceptional standard within each of these units including the prosecution of high profile and complex cases in both summary and Sheriff and jury forums. I always took pride in prosecuting cases fairly in the public interest, robustly and in a victim focussed manner.
• Regularly took on additional responsibilities including SLM duties under supervision, particularly in homicide investigations. Liaising with Senior Crown counsel on preparation of cases and arranging and conducting highly sensitive next of kin meetings.
• Manged a high volume marking caseload with accurate, pragmatic and considered marking decisions based on an exceptional, sound knowledge of the relevant laws, even in unusual offences, and of developing COPFS policies including in relation to domestic offending and persistent offenders.