General information

Criteria

The criteria for admission as an Advocate are set out in the Faculty’s Admission Regulations . These include academic and vocational requirements. 

The academic requirements are, in summary:

(i) a degree in Scots law of an appropriate standard;
(ii) passes in examinations in specified legal subjects;
(iii) a Diploma in Legal Practice;
(iv) a pass in the Faculty’s examination in Evidence, Practice and Procedure.

The vocational requirements are, in summary:

(i) a period of training in a solicitor’s office; 
(ii) pupillage; and
(iii) successful assessment under the Faculty’s Scheme of Assessment of Devils.

Pupillage (or “devilling”) is a course of training, which includes taught elements, skills training and periods of training with an experienced advocate (a “devilmaster”).
For further information on pupillage, please click here  The Scheme for Assessment involves the testing of both oral advocacy and written advocacy skills. 

There is a different pathway to becoming an Advocate for: (i) Barristers qualified in England & Wales or Northern Ireland who have completed a full period of pupillage;  and (ii) legal practitioners from another EU Member States.
For information, please click here.

Procedure

The procedure for admission as an Advocate is also set out in the Faculty’s Admission Regulations .

It comprises:

(i) submission of a petition to the Court;
(ii) remit by the Court to the Faculty;
(iii) matriculation by the Faculty of the applicant as an “Intrant”;
(iv) assessment of the Intrant by the Faculty;
(v) once all the academic and vocational requirements have been met, admission by the Faculty to membership of the Faculty of Advocates and by the Court to the public office of Advocate.

For advice regarding the criteria and procedure for becoming an Advocate, including information on exemptions from Faculty examinations, please contact admissions@advocates.org.uk