Candidates who have not had relevant experience of court work as an admitted solicitor for five years prior to submitting an application may be unable to satisfy the Council with regard to experience.
Relevant experience means experience of solemn trials in the Sheriff Court for those seeking the Right of Audience in the High Court.
Candidates who have been practising members of the Faculty of Advocates may count their experience in that capacity. The Council will, in exceptional cases, consider experience for solicitors who have been practising members of the bar in England, Wales, Northern Ireland or another member State of the European Union; or who have had relevant experience of court work as a solicitor in England, Wales, Northern Ireland or another jurisdiction.
Application forms should be completed as fully and legibly as possible. If the information given is not sufficient, this may lead to a delay while further information is sought.
The form may either be typed or handwritten – please note, the form is required to be signed by the candidate upon completion. Once completed, please submit your application by email or post to [email protected]:
David Macdougall
The Law Society of Scotland
Atria One
144 Morrison Street
Edinburgh
EH3 8EX
and pay the application fee of £300.
Candidates should state the names, full postal addresses and email addresses of two individuals from whom the Society can obtain a reference. One of the referees should be a sheriff or other member of the judiciary before whom the candidate has appeared. The other referee can be a solicitor but should not be a business partner, employer or client. All candidates should advise their referees that they are giving their names for this purpose.
The information to be given in part three of the application form about relevant experience should be restricted to cases in which a trial, proof, debate or appeal to the Sheriff Principal has taken place. Experience in other courts (including the court for which any candidates are seeking Rights of Audience) should be included in the section 'Other Experience'. Candidates should restrict themselves to cases which have been set down for trial, proof, debate or appeal as the case may be. Cases which have not yet reached that stage should not be included. Candidates should indicate the role in which they were involved including whether they have appeared personally in the Court of Session either in Chambers or at the Vacation Court.
Information to be given about any case should include the name, the court in which it took place, the year in which it was heard, and whether the hearing was a trial, proof, debate or appeal. It is not necessary to advise the outcome or to forward background papers in connection with the case. If the hearing lasted more than one day, the duration would also be helpful.
The course fees are £3,000 plus VAT. Payment is required in one lump sum prior to the course commencing via credit or debit card through invoice. Alternatively you can post a cheque for the full amount made payable to the Law Society of Scotland.
Each candidate is required to complete six days of sitting-in prior to the start of the training course. The breakdown of these six days should consist of:
Four days criminal appeals (three days in Conviction Appeal Court and one day in Sentence Appeal Court) and two days preliminary hearing.
For sitting-in you need to attend the court and request any relevant papers from the clerk. You will need to get the attendance card signed by the clerk. The business of the court is available on their website.
Sitting-in must be completed before the final oral assessment.
The criminal training course takes place over two weekends, generally in May and June, and consists of various presentations and tutorials from both the bench and experienced solicitor advocates. Topics covered include preliminary hearings, prior statements, presenting criminal appeals, advocacy-using witnesses, taking evidence on commission, vulnerable witnesses and High Court etiquette. There are also practical exercises and mock oral assessments with feedback, prior to the final assessments. Candidates will be issued materials in advance of the course and expected to prepare for some of the sessions at the training course.
The final oral assessments take place on a weekend day a few weeks after the course at the Court of Session, Parliament House, Edinburgh. Candidates will be assessed on their advocacy skills against the relevant standards of The Statement of Standards for Solicitor Advocates on both a first instance exercise and an appeal.
Course conveners are Solicitor Advocates John Keenan and Iain McSporran.
The next course will run on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 May and Saturday 08 and Sunday 09 June (you must attend on all dates). The oral assessment will take place on Saturday 29 June.
The exam diet is held each year at our offices, for 2019 it is scheduled for Thursday 22 August. Each diet will consist of two exams (1) Professional Conduct, which will last for two hours, usually from 10.00 am until 12 noon and (2) Practice and Procedure which will last for two and a half hours from 1.30 pm until 4.00 pm. Examination books are provided at the venue. There is a £100 enrolment fee for each of the exams.
For the Professional Conduct examination, candidates are not allowed to take any books in. This is a closed book exam. Candidates are expected to have extensive knowledge of Rule C4.3 Order of Precedence, Instructions and Representation and Rule C4.4 Conduct of Solicitor Advocates. Copies of these rules are NOT allowed to be used in the exam.
Candidates are not expected to remember the numbers of the various Rules. Candidates are also expected to also have knowledge of general principles of professional ethics and the standards set out in Rule B1 Standards of Conduct. All of these Rules can be accessed in the rules and guidance section of our website.
The Practice and Procedure examination is an 'open book' exam. This means that candidates are allowed to bring and use any published un-annotated books and case reports printed from the Scottish Courts website.
Candidates can request past papers prior to the exam.
The completed examination scripts will be passed to the relevant examiner and all candidates will be advised in writing of the result as soon as possible. In both examinations the pass mark will be 50% and it is not intended to hold oral examinations.
