Paul McBride

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Scottish lawyer; Queen's Counsel

title: "Paul McBride" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1964-births", "2012-deaths", "21st-century-king's-counsel", "alumni-of-the-university-of-strathclyde", "members-of-the-faculty-of-advocates", "scottish-labour-politicians", "scottish-conservative-politicians", "scottish-king's-counsel", "place-of-birth-missing", "scottish-lgbtq-lawyers", "scottish-gay-politicians", "people-educated-at-st-aloysius'-college,-glasgow", "20th-century-scottish-lgbtq-people", "21st-century-scottish-lgbtq-people", "20th-century-scottish-politicians", "21st-century-scottish-politicians", "20th-century-scottish-lawyers", "21st-century-scottish-lawyers"] description: "Scottish lawyer; Queen's Counsel" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McBride" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Scottish lawyer; Queen's Counsel ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Paul McBride
birth_date
death_date
death_place	Pakistan
burial_place	St Conval's, Barrhead
nationality	Scottish
education	LLB, University of Strathclyde, 1983
occupation	Criminal lawyer
known_for	One of the youngest ever in the UK to be appointed Queen's Counsel
partner	Gary Murphy (2007)
::

Paul McBride QC (13 November 1964 – 4 March 2012) was a Scottish criminal lawyer based in Edinburgh. He was a board member of the Scottish Legal Aid Board, and a former vice chairman of the Faculty of Advocates Criminal Bar Association. He died suddenly on a trip to Pakistan.

Education

McBride, an only child from a working-class family, attended the private Catholic Jesuit school St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and thereafter studied law at the University of Strathclyde from the age of 16. He graduated with an LLB aged 19, and joined a solicitors firm in Ayrshire. After completing his two-year traineeship with the firm he devilled with a practising advocate for nine months, and was admitted advocate in 1988. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2000 aged 36, one of the youngest ever in the UK.

Legal career

McBride was very well known for his intelligence, his skillful advancement of the merits of Scottish Law as well as his courage. He often represented high-profile clients in controversial criminal cases. He led the legal teams which won the acquittal of human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar of contempt of court in July 2008, and Gail Sheridan of perjury in HM Advocate v Sheridan and Sheridan. When he was appointed to the latter case the Daily Record called it a "legal dream team".

In 2009, McBride defended Rangers and Scotland goalkeeper Allan McGregor on sex attack claims, which never reached court.

Later, McBride represented Celtic F.C. on a number of legal and disciplinary matters. He issued statements to the press about incidents that involved Celtic and defended Celtic's staff in court including touchline bans for their manager, drink driving charges, charges of child neglect and speaking out about football officials.

In April 2011, McBride branded the SFA "the laughing stock of world football", and "not merely dysfunctional and dishonest, but biased". This statement came after an SFA disciplinary hearing involving three members of Rangers staff.

Personal life

McBride was a fan of football club Celtic and was considered to be one of the club's "highest profile supporters". McBride was gay and had been in a civil partnership with his partner Gary Murphy since 2007.{{cite news | url = http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2012/03/06/celtic-manager-neil-lennon-pays-tribute-to-friend-paul-mcbride-as-efforts-continue-to-bring-qc-s-body-home-86908-23776707/ | title = Celtic manager Neil Lennon pays tribute to friend Paul McBride as efforts continue to bring QC's body home |work=Daily Record | date = 6 March 2012 | accessdate =12 March 2012}}

Politics

In April 2009, McBride made a high-profile defection from the Scottish Labour Party to the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.

On 6 November 2011, McBride resigned from the Scottish Conservative Party hours after the election of leader Ruth Davidson, describing the party as "divided and dysfunctional" and "a bunch of unreconstructed morons".

Bomb threat

In April 2011, McBride, Neil Lennon and Trish Godman, public figures all connected with Celtic, were sent parcel bombs. This resulted in the trial of two men, HM Advocate v Muirhead and McKenzie, in which McBride was due to appear as a witness, but died before he was called.

Trevor Muirhead, 44, and Neil McKenzie, 42 were later jailed for five years, having been found guilty of sending devices in the post to McBride, Celtic manager Neil Lennon, and Trish Godman.

Death

On 4 March 2012 McBride died in his sleep while in Pakistan. He was visiting Pakistan on business with fellow lawyer Aamer Anwar. His body was discovered in a hotel room in the city Lahore by Anwar, who said later that McBride had been unwell during the trip. A post-mortem examination carried out on McBride has found that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. The post-mortem was carried out at the Mayo Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. His Requiem Mass was held in St Aloysius' Church, Garnethill, Glasgow, and many prominent figures in Scottish public life attended, including First Minister Alex Salmond, and Neil Lennon, then manager of Celtic FC, who was a pall bearer. He was buried in St Conval's, Barrhead.

Obituaries

Obituary: Paul McBride QC, high-profile criminal lawyer who was appointed Queen’s Council at the age of just 35 The Scotsman, 5 March 2012
Paul McBride obituary The Guardian, 5 March 2012
Paul McBride, QC The Herald, 5 March 2012

References

There are conflicting versions of his age and year of birth, the ''Guardian'', ''Herald'', and ''Daily Telegraph'' gives it as 1963, the ''Scotsman'', BBC and ''Daily Record'' as 1964.
"Board members and Senior Staff". Scottish Legal Aid Board.
Richard Wilson. (13 April 2011). "Quality control". The Herald.
(4 March 2012). "Leading Scots lawyer Paul McBride QC found dead". BBC News.
Cramb, Auslan. (5 March 2012). "Bomb plot lawyer Paul McBride QC found dead in Pakistan". Telegraph Media Group Limited 2012.
(28 January 2009). "Tommy Sheridan turns to legal dream team for £20m perjury case fight". Daily Record.
(29 January 2011). "Rape charge SPL ace David Goodwillie hires Allan McGregor's brief". Daily Record.
(17 March 2011). "SFA pursue eight-game ban for Celtic's Neil Lennon". BBC Sport.
(23 February 2011). "Celtic coach Alan Thompson given drink-drive ban". BBC News.
(10 January 2011). "Celtic player and his wife charged with child neglect". The Herald.
(29 November 2010). "Celtic feel 'vindicated' by ref Dougie McDonald's exit". BBC Sport.
(12 April 2011). "Lawyer Paul McBride blasts SFA's Rangers verdict". BBC Sport.
(13 April 2011). "SFA threatens lawyer Paul McBride with legal action". BBC Sport.
(20 April 2011). "Paul McBride QC will not face SFA legal action". BBC Sport.
(12 March 2012). "Hundreds attend funeral for lawyer Paul McBride". BBC News.
(26 April 2009). "QC Paul McBride switches allegiance to Conservatives over party's 'smears and fears'". Johnston Publishing.
(6 November 2011). "QC Paul McBride leaves Tories after two years". BBC News.
(20 April 2011). "Neil Lennon parcel bomb 'cowardly act'". BBC News.
(2012-04-27). "Muirhead and McKenzie jailed for Neil Lennon parcel bomb plot". BBC News.
(4 March 2012). "Top Scottish lawyer Paul McBride found dead in hotel room in Pakistan". Daily Record.

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