Advocates give specialist legal advice to solicitors and other professional clients, and represent individual clients and organisations in court. They are sometimes called counsel, and are similar to barristers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Their work includes:

• meeting solicitors and other professionals such as architects, surveyors and accountants, who consult advocates on behalf of their clients
• researching points of law from previous similar cases
• writing opinions and advising solicitors and other professionals
• preparing for a case by reading statements and law reports, and talking with the client if necessary
• representing clients in court or at tribunals or public enquiries – presenting the case to the judge and jury, cross-examining witnesses and summing up.

The amount of time that an advocate spends in court depends on the type of case they are working on. Advocates generally do not specialise in one particular area of law at first, although they tend to build up expertise in some areas during their career.

The main areas of law are:

• Common Law: includes criminal law and civil law (contracts, tort, property and family law) - advocates with expertise in criminal law will spend much of their time in court, whilst civil law is mainly advisory work
• Chancery Law: mainly advisory work on wills, trusts, estates, tax, and company law, with little court work involved.

Practising advocates are self-employed and get most of their work from solicitors and other professionals.

Hours and Environment

Working hours can be long and may include evenings and weekends. Advocates may also spend a lot of time travelling to the venue where a case or inquiry is being heard.

Advocates work from the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh, in groups called ‘stables’. The Library is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Each stable has an advocates’ clerk and at least one deputy clerk, who provide administrative support to all the advocates in their stable.

Advocates wear a wig and gown when in court.

Skills and Interests

To be an advocate, you should:

• be confident
• have excellent spoken and written communication skills
• have a good memory and be able to take in and analyse large amounts of information
• be logical and pay attention to detail
• be able to explain matters clearly, with good presentation skills
• avoid becoming emotionally involved in distressing cases
• be able to cope when working under pressure
• be discreet - information needs to be kept confidential.

Entry

To become an advocate you must meet the Faculty of Advocates’ academic standards and also complete vocational training.

Before beginning your vocational training you must have one of the following qualifications to join the Faculty as an ‘Intrant’ (trainee member):

• an honours degree in Scottish Law from a Scottish university (2:2 or above)
• an ordinary degree in Scottish Law from a Scottish university and an honours degree (2:2 or above) in any other subject from a university elsewhere in the United Kingdom
• an ordinary degree with distinction in Scottish Law from a Scottish university.

To get onto a Scottish law degree you will usually need at least five S grades (1-3)/GCSEs (A-C), plus five Highers with good grades, usually including English. Glasgow University will also ask you to pass the National Admissions Test for Law (LNAT) - see the LNAT website for more information (details in the Further Information section).

Most advocates begin training straight after getting their law degree, but this is not essential.

Please see the Training section for information about the vocational stages of training.

Training

You must compete each of the following stages of vocational training to qualify as an advocate:

• the Diploma in Legal Practice, a one-year full-time postgraduate course at a Scottish University
• a 21-month period of work in a solicitor's office (this could be reduced to 12 months if you have a first- or second-class honours degree)
• a nine and a half months' pupillage with a member of the bar (called ‘devilling’), which includes ten weeks of intensive skills training
• pass the Faculty of Advocates’ examinations in Evidence, Practice and Procedure.

The process of becoming an advocate is currently being reviewed.

The Faculty of Advocates runs a continuing education programme of seminars, courses, workshops and conferences for both qualified advocates and 'devils'.

Opportunities

There are over 460 self-employed practising advocates in Scotland, all based in Edinburgh.

Training to become an advocate is very competitive and there are usually more applicants than training places.

Qualified advocates could also decide not to practise, but to work for commercial employers or in local or central government.

Advocates may become sheriffs and can also be appointed to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service as deputies (Crown Counsel) for set periods. After between ten and fifteen years' experience, advocates may apply to become a Court of Session judge.

Annual Income

Figures are intended as a guideline only. Advocates are self-employed so their pay can depend on their reputation and the number of cases they have.

During the 'devilling' stage, trainee advocates usually earn around £10,000 a year.
Advocates usually earn between £19,000 and £260,000 a year.
In the Procurator Fiscal Service, salaries range from £22,000 to £52,300 a year.

Further information

Faculty Services Ltd
Parliament House
Edinburgh
EH1 1RF
Tel: 0131 226 5071