Devilling system helps advocates maintain the highest standards

Barney Ross, Clerk of Faculty

LAST October, 29 aspiring advocates (known as devils) arrived at the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh to begin an intensive period of professional training to qualify for admission to the Scottish Bar.

This training is designed to enable devils, who are already qualified lawyers, to acquire the specialist skill set necessary to succeed as an advocate. The training comprises both classroom-based learning from advocacy training courses and on-the-job experience shadowing practising advocates (known as ‘devilmasters’). There are also formal assessments to ensure the high professional standards rightly required of all advocates. The training is provided at no cost, and Faculty operates its own scholarship fund which offers financial support to a significant number of devils each year.

Upon successful completion of the devilling period in June this year, the devils will be admitted to the public office of advocate.

They will then embark upon their practice as independent advocates, appearing before courts across the country on behalf of their clients. In doing so, each will play their part in the Faculty of Advocates’ central mission in promoting the rule of law and providing access to justice for the people of Scotland.

Several of this year’s devils will go on to practise in the field of criminal law, where their services will be in high demand as courts continue to operate at full throttle to get through the backlog of trials created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Faculty’s first in-house training course, which is designed to teach a sound foundation in the core skills of an advocate. Since the first foundation course was delivered in 1995, hundreds of devils have benefited from world-class training according to the international gold standard in advocacy techniques. Many of those devils have since gone on to achieve great things as advocates and include amongst their number many of today’s leading King’s Counsel, sheriffs and judges.

However, the task of inspiring future generations of advocates begins at a much earlier stage, through Faculty’s programme of outreach work with schoolchildren, university students and the wider legal profession. We have just welcomed 30 student ‘mini-devils’ from six university law schools across Scotland. The aim of ‘mini-devilling’ is to provide an opportunity for law students to gain first-hand experience of the work of an advocate.

Each law student or mini-devil is assigned a junior advocate to be their ‘mini-devilmaster’. Over the course of the semester, each student will spend one day per week shadowing their mini-devilmaster, in very much the same way as would a ‘real’ devil. The mini-devilling programme sits alongside many other initiatives that Faculty supports, including the UK Mock-Trial competition, the Scottish MiniTrials project, university mooting competitions, school debating events, and our own Faculty Open Day for school pupils.

Faculty recognises that to continue to flourish in the future it is vital for us to encourage and attract lawyers of ability – from the greatest diversity of backgrounds and professional experiences – to consider a career at the Bar. Our members’ investment in training and education for the advocates of tomorrow reflects the strength of our commitment to that important objective.

This column by Barney Ross, Clerk of Faculty, first appeared in The Scotsman.