The Chairman's power under the Inquiries Act 2005 to make awards for public funding in respect of legal representation for core participants is subject to the Inquiries Rules 2007 and also the qualifications and conditions imposed by the Scottish Ministers under section 40 of the Act.

Core participants are not guaranteed a right to separate representation by a lawyer of their own choice. The Chairman has power to require those with a common interest to be represented by one lawyer or legal team. Before doing so three requirements will have to be met:

the interests of the relevant core participants in the outcome of the inquiry have to be similar
the facts they are likely to rely on during the inquiry have to be similar, and
it has to be fair and proper for them to be jointly represented.

The Chairman has determined that David Asbury, Iain McKie & Shirley McKie should be publicly funded by the Inquiry and represented by a single recognised legal representative. He is Mr Gordon Dalyell of Digby Brown, Solicitors, Edinburgh.

The Chairman has also determined that Alan Dunbar, Terence Foley, Alister Geddes, David Halliday, Fiona McBride, Anthony McKenna, Robert Mackenzie, Hugh Macpherson & Charles Stewart should be publicly funded by the Inquiry and represented by a single recognised legal representative. He is Mr Stuart Holmes of Turcan Connell, Solicitors, Edinburgh.

The recognised legal representatives for the following, who are not publicly funded by the Inquiry, are:

for the Lord Advocate - The Crown Agent, Mr Norman McFadyen
for the Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police - Mr Ranald Macpherson of Simpson & Marwick, Solicitors, Edinburgh
for Peter Swann and Malcolm Ross - Mr David Russell of Towells, Solicitors, Wakefield
for the Scottish Police Services Authority - Ms Amanda Jones of Maclay, Murray & Spens, Solicitors.

Pat Wertheim initially did not appoint a lawyer and so did not have a recognised legal representative. However during the second phase of the hearings (on 24 September 2009) he requested legal representation. The Chairman agreed to his request and recognised Mr Smith Q.C. instructed by Mr Gordon Dalyell of Digby Brown, Solicitors, Edinburgh as his legal representative.