Former SNP leader and first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond is accused of a string of sex offences, including attempted rape.
Salmond, of Strichen, Aberdeenshire, faces 14 charges alleged to have taken place over a six-year period.
A preliminary trial date will take place on January 22 2020, with a trial date fixed for March 9 at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Here are the four key players in the trial, which is expected to take four weeks to complete.
Lady Dorian
Lady Dorian is expected to preside over the Salmond prosecution.
As Lord Justice Clerk, she is the first woman in 692 years to be appointed as Scotland’s second most senior judge.
She is the first woman to be appointed to the judicial position in more than six centuries. The first Lord Justice Clerk – William de Camera – was appointed to the post in 1324 during the reign of King David II.
Lady Dorrian was born Leeona Dorrian in June 1957 in Edinburgh. She attended Cranley Girls’ School in the city and studied for a law degree at Aberdeen University.
She was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1981 and became Queen’s Counsel in 1994.
Lady Dorrian became a full-time High Court judge in 2005. She was appointed to the bench after Mr Salmond’s predecessor as first minister Jack McConnell recommended her to the Queen.
Lady Dorrian was one of the three appeal judges who cut the punishment part of Aaron Campbell’s sentence by three years to 24 years from 27.
Campbell, 17, was convicted of abducting, raping and murdering Alesha MacPhail in March 2019 at the High Court in Glasgow.
Alex Prentice
Alex Prentice QC holds the position of Home Advocate Depute – the most senior courtroom prosecutor – within the Crown Office.
He qualified as a solicitor in 1983 and became a solicitor advocate – a solicitor who is able to practice in the High Court – in 1994. He has prosecuted a number of high profile cases. He led the prosecution against former MSP Tommy Sheridan who stood trial and was convicted of perjury in 2010.
In 2012 he secured convictions against David Gilroy, who murdered his former lover Suzanne Pilley in Edinburgh in May 2010. He secured a conviction despite Ms Pilley’s body never being recovered.
Mr Prentice also secured a conviction in 2012 against Nat Fraser, who murdered his wife Arlene in April 1998.
Gordon Jackson
Gordon Jackson QC, above right, as Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, is the leader of the Scottish Bar. He was educated at Ardrossan Academy in Ayrshire and studied law at St Andrews University. He became an advocate in 1979 and took silk as a QC in 1990.
Mr Jackson was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999 to serve the constituency of Glasgow Govan.
He was defeated in 2007 by current first minister Nicola Sturgeon.
He is one of the most sought-after criminal law advocates in Scotland and has continually topped the charts for being the top legal aid earner.
In 2012 Mr Jackson made more than £400,000 in legal aid fees.
In November 1998 Mr Jackson acted for a dog called Woofie, a cross collie who faced being put to sleep for allegedly biting a postman.
Mr Jackson managed to maintain a reprieve for the dog and famous French actress Brigette Bardot flew in to Scotland to lend her support to him during a hearing at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh.
Shelagh McCall
Shelagh McCall QC, top right, is the junior counsel in the Salmond defence team. She became an advocate in 2000 before taking silk in 2015.
She formerly acted as appeals counsel for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Ms McCall was appointed chairwoman of the law reform and human rights organisation JUSTICE Scotland in 2017.
Ms McCall recently acted for Thomas Haining, who was jailed for eight years in October for shaking his three-week-old child Mikayla to death.
Haining originally faced a murder charge but the Crown agreed to accept a plea of guilty to a lesser charge of culpable homicide.
IN FULL: Alex Salmond denies rape, two indecent assaults and 11 sexual assaults
