Editing Henry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn (section)

==Legal and judicial career==
[[File:Lord Henry Cockburn by William Brodie, SNPG.JPG|thumb|Statue of Lord Cockburn by William Brodie]]
[[File:14 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|14 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, the town house of Lord Cockburn]]

Cockburn entered the [[Faculty of Advocates]] in 1800, and attached himself, not to the party of his relatives, who could have afforded him most valuable patronage, but to the [[UK Whig Party|Whig party]], and that at a time when it held out few inducements to men ambitious of success in life. He became a distinguished advocate, and ultimately a judge. He was one of the leaders of the [[British Whig Party|Whig]] party in Scotland in its days of darkness prior to the [[Reform Act 1832]], and was a close friend of [[Thomas Dick Lauder|Sir Thomas Dick Lauder]].  He was the defence lawyer for Helen McDougal, Burke's wife, in the trial for the [[Burke and Hare murders]], and won her acquittal.

On the accession of [[Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey|Earl Grey]]'s [[Whig Government 1830–1834|ministry]] in 1830 he became [[Solicitor General for Scotland]]. During his time here he drafted the First Scottish Reform Bill.<ref name="turnbull"/> In 1834 he was raised to the bench, and on taking his seat as a Judge in the [[Court of Session]] he adopted the title of Lord Cockburn as a Scottish Lord of Session.<ref name="Peter Beauclerk Dewar 2001 page 884">Peter Beauclerk Dewar, editor, ''Burkes Landed Gentry of Great Britain – The Kingdom in Scotland, 19th ed. – volume 1'' (Wilmington, Delaware, USA: Burke's Peerage and Gentry LLC, 2001), volume 1, page 884.</ref>