The Scottish Route

Scotland has its own legal system, procedures and nomenclature, as well as some of its own laws. Although the two branches - advocates and solicitors - into which the Scottish legal profession is divided are in many respects quite like England's barristers and solicitors, the Scottish profession is very much smaller, and its entry and training arrangements are distinctively Scottish.

There are no one-year conversion courses for non-law graduates in Scotland and only a small number of Scottish LLB degrees are recognised by the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland (available at Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities). The courses normally last three years for an Ordinary degree or four years for an Honours degree but at all five universities graduates in other subjects can take accelerated courses and gain an Ordinary degree in two years or an Honours degree in three.

For nearly everyone the first step on the long road to qualifying as a lawyer in Scotland is to gain one of these recognised LLB degrees. The next is to study for approximately six months for a postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice (offered at the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh and at the Glasgow School of Law, which is run jointly by Glasgow and Strathclyde.)

Prospective solicitors then have to obtain and successfully complete to the satisfaction of the Law Society of Scotland a two-year traineeship.

The Faculty of Advocates also requires prospective advocates to spend a lengthy period in training with a Scottish solicitor before being admitted to the Faculty as Intrants and undertaking a further period of (unpaid) practical training ('devilling') with an experienced advocate. Although prospective advocates are not required to complete a full two-year traineeship and qualify as solicitors, current advice is to do so and then practise for some years as a solicitor to build up experience and professional reputation and to reduce your debts before going to the Bar.

Advocates

The Faculty of Advocates, whose elected members administer the Scottish Bar, has about 420 practising members, who present cases and represent clients in courts, tribunals and public enquiries and also provide advice in written opinions or at consultations. Most are based in Parliament House in Edinburgh, where they can make use of secretarial and other services provided centrally, but all work as self-employed individuals, not in sets of chambers, and all depend for their income on solicitors (and some other professionals) deciding to instruct them.

Solicitors

At the end of 2000 the Law Society of Scotland had around 8,200 registered solicitors. More than three-quarters of these were in private practice (1,750 in 239 firms in Edinburgh, 1,651 in 401 firms in Glasgow and 2,875 in 1,178 firms elsewhere in Scotland). Nearly all of the rest were employed in Scotland in commercial firms, local government or other organisations, although some 200 were working in England or abroad.

A total of 110 solicitors were 'solicitor-advocates', who are experienced solicitors who have qualified for and been granted rights of audience in Scotland's highest civil or criminal courts.

Richard M Campbell:

Director of the University of Dundee Careers Service