Passed advocate

Faculty of Advocates

Formation	1532
Headquarters	Parliament House
Location	Edinburgh
Membership	730
Dean of Faculty	Gordon Jackson QC
Parent organization	College of Justice
Website	www.advocates.org.uk

The Faculty of Advocates is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a constituent part of the College of Justice and is based in Edinburgh.

Advocates are privileged to plead in any cause before any of the courts of Scotland, including the Sheriff Courts and District Courts, where counsel are not excluded by statute.

The Faculty has existed since 1532 when the College of Justice was set up by Act of the Parliament of Scotland, but its origins are believed to predate that event. For a long period the Faculty resisted reorganisation, until changes in admissions were introduced in the 1960.

The Faculty is led by the Dean of Faculty, who is elected by the whole membership. The post is currently held by Gordon Jackson, who took over in 2016 from James Wolffe. He is supported by the Vice-Dean, Treasurer, Clerk, Keeper of the Library (currently Mungo Bovey) and Chairman of Faculty Services Ltd, all of whom are also elected. There is no standing council as with the Bar association of England and Wales.

The Faculty is self-regulating, and the Court of Session delegates to it the task of preparing Intrants for admission as advocates. This task involves a process of examination and practical instruction known as devilling, during which intrants benefit from intensive structured training in the special skills of advocacy. No-one can be presented to the court as suitable to be a practising advocate without satisfying these training requirements. The Faculty also provides for its members an ongoing programme of talks, seminars and conferences covering a wide range of topics.