Lynda Clark, Baroness Clark of Calton

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Lynda Margaret Clark, Baroness Clark of Calton, QC (born 26 February 1949) is a Scottish politician, formerly the Labour Member of Parliament for Edinburgh Pentlands. She was Advocate General for Scotland from the creation of that position in 1999 until 2006, whereupon she became a Judge of the Court of Session in Scotland.

She won the seat in the 1997 election, displacing Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Malcolm Rifkind. She stood down at the 2005 election, allowing Alistair Darling to contest the new Edinburgh South West seat.

Before entering politics, she studied law at Queens College, St Andrews (now the University of Dundee), and subsequently gained a PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1975. She was a lecturer in Jurisprudence from 1973 at the University of Dundee until she was called to the Scottish Bar in 1977. She took silk in 1989, and was subsequently called to the English Bar in 1990.

On 13 May 2005 it was announced that she would be created a life peer, and on 21 June 2005 the title was gazetted as Baroness Clark of Calton, of Calton in the City of Edinburgh.

On 18 January 2006 Baroness Clark resigned as Advocate General to take up office as a Senator of the College of Justice. She has been replaced as Advocate General by Neil Davidson QC.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Malcolm Rifkind
Member of Parliament for Edinburgh Pentlands
19972005
Succeeded by
(constituency abolished)
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