Editing Advocate (section)

====Scotland{{anchor|Advocate (Scotland)}}====

=====Faculty of Advocates=====
[[File:Quentin Massys 007.jpg|thumb|A 16th-century advocate]]
{{Scots law}}
{{main|Faculty of Advocates}}

Advocates are regulated by the [[Faculty of Advocates]] in [[Edinburgh]]. The Faculty of Advocates has about 750 members, of whom about 460 are in private practice. About 75 are [[King's Counsel]]. The Faculty is headed by the [[Dean (education)|Dean]] of the Faculty who, along with the Vice-Dean, [[Treasurer]], and [[court clerk|Clerk]] are elected annually by [[secret ballot]].
	 
The Faculty has a service company, Faculty Services Ltd, to which almost all Advocates belong, which organized the '''stables''' (sets of Advocates or barristers' chambers<ref>{{cite web |title=Stables overview |url=https://www.legal500.com/c/scottish-bar/stables-overview/ |website=legal500.com |access-date=2 May 2020}}</ref>) and fee collection. This gives a guarantee to all newly called Advocates of a place. Until the end of 2007, there was an agreement with the [[Law Society of Scotland]], which is the professional body for Scottish solicitors, as to the payment of fees, but this has now been replaced by the Law Society. It remains the case that Advocates are not permitted to [[lawsuit|sue]] for their fees, as they have no contractual relationship with their instructing solicitor or with the client.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.privy-council.org.uk/files/other/husbands-final.rtf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2008-01-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010141208/http://www.privy-council.org.uk/files/other/husbands-final.rtf |archive-date=2007-10-10 }}</ref> Their fees are [[honorarium|honoraria]].

Advocates wear wigs, white bow-ties (or falls in the case of senior counsel), straps and gowns as a dress in court.

=====Becoming an advocate=====
The process of becoming an advocate is referred to as [[devilling]]. All [[wikt:intrant|intrants]] will be Scottish solicitors, i.e. hold a [[Bachelor of Laws]] degree and the [[Diploma in Legal Practice]], and must have completed the traineeships of two years (which in some cases may be reduced to eighteen months) required to qualify as a solicitor; or else will be members of the [[bar association|bar]] in another [[common law]] jurisdiction.

======Admission to the Faculty of Advocates======

At the end of the devilling period, a devil's admission to the Faculty is dependent on certification by the principal devil master that the devil is a fit and proper person to be an advocate and that the devil has been involved in a wide range of work in the course of devilling. A devil's competence in a number of aspects of written and oral advocacy is assessed during devilling, and a devil will not be admitted to the Faculty if assessed as not competent. Further details of this process can be found in the assessment section.

======Recent developments======

In recent years, increasing numbers of Advocates have come to the Scottish Bar after some time as solicitors, but it is possible to qualify with a law degree, after twenty-one months traineeship in a solicitor's office and almost a year as a 'devil', or apprentice advocate. There are exceptions for lawyers who are qualified in other European jurisdictions, but all must take the training course as 'devils'.

Until 2007, a number of young European lawyers were given a placement with Advocates under the [[European Young Lawyers Scheme]] organized by the [[British Council]]. They are known as 'Eurodevils', in distinction to the Scottish 'devils'. This scheme was withdrawn by the British Council. In January 2009, a replacement scheme began.

Lawyers qualified in other European Union states (but not in England and Wales) may have limited rights of audience in the Scottish supreme courts if they appear with an advocate, and a few solicitors known as 'solicitor-Advocates' have rights of audience, but for practical purposes, Advocates have almost exclusive rights of audience in the supreme courts – the [[High Court of Justiciary]] (criminal), and the [[Court of Session]] (civil). Advocates share the right of audience with solicitors in the [[sheriff court]]s and [[justice of the peace court]]s.

It used to be the case that Advocates were completely immune from suit etc. while conducting court cases and pre-trial work, as they had to act 'fearlessly and independently'; the rehearing of actions was considered contrary to [[public interest]]; and Advocates are ''required'' to accept clients, they cannot pick and choose. However, the seven-judge English ruling of ''Arthur J.S. Hall & Co. (a firm) v. Simons'' 2000 (House of Lords)<ref>{{cite web|author=Law Lord's Department |url=http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199900/ldjudgmt/jd000720/hall-1.htm |title=House of Lords - Arthur J.S Hall and Co. v. Simons (A.P.) Barratt v. Ansell and Others (Trading As Woolf Seddon (A Firm) Harris v. Scholfield Roberts and Hill (Conjoined Appeals) |publisher=Parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk |date=20 July 2000 |access-date=11 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829024300/http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199900/ldjudgmt/jd000720/hall-1.htm |archive-date=29 August 2012 }}</ref> declared that none of these reasons justified the immunity strongly enough to sustain it. This has been followed in Scotland in ''Wright v Paton Farrell'' (2006) ''obiter''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/2006CSIH7.html |title=TREVOR RUSH McCafferty WRIGHT v. PATON FARRELL+ROBERT PATON+PETER FARRELL, 10 February 2006, Lord President |publisher=Scotcourts.gov.uk |access-date=2013-06-11 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120903153149/http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/2006CSIH7.html |archive-date=3 September 2012 }}</ref> insofar as civil cases are concerned.