Post-qualification training in the legal profession is delivered in a variety of ways. Completing one’s CPD is mandatory, but much of this now consists of day long seminars with a variety of speakers on different aspects of a topic, online single seminars, and in-house teach-ins, which are more feasible for larger firms. Longer-duration courses do exist, especially in Tax, with the STEP diploma, ATT, CTA and other ‘deep dives’.

There are other areas of practice however where expertise can only be built up over time, rather than via specific University or other courses. Multidisciplinary sectors such as Rural Land and Business, which includes specialised areas such as agricultural holdings and renewable energy, is one example. For those more recently qualified, or looking for a change direction, getting into such practice areas in the first place, or getting even a basic understanding of them, can be difficult.

Commercial Uses of Rural Land

Realising the lack of an easy entry into the wide practice area of Rural Property Law in 2024 we, the ‘Three Mikes’, [Blair, Yellowlees and Upton, Advocate and Director at Scottish Land & Estates] put together a course, Commercial Use of Rural Land (CUoRL) to provide a general orientation and introduction to rural practice, including agricultural holdings, renewables, other rural activities, and the associated dispute resolution issues. We also brought in taxation, business structures and the many State interventions such as subsidies, designations etc. How Scots Law makes all these increasingly socially and commercially significant activities work together in rural Scotland is not taught holistically elsewhere.

This was originally set up as an Honours course for Edinburgh University Law School in 2024, as this was an aspect of legal practice that they lacked the knowledge and resource to teach. In 2025, it was adapted and presented to a dozen, mostly junior, solicitors and NQs in a course of 11 two-hour sessions at Parliament House. The feedback has been excellent, both from attendees and their ‘bosses’. This year 2026, the course will run again from September to December, kindly hosted by Gillespie Macandrew in central Edinburgh.

A Better (and Necessary) Type of Training

Unlike the usual day CPD seminars with a variety of speakers and assorted topics on a theme, we were able to give young lawyers a thorough grounding in this whole and varied area of practice. There is a big difference between structured training like CUoRL, and the usual ‘getting in your CPD’. As the law adapts to changes in society and business, rather than merely picking up experience depending on what work comes in, it is unquestionably helpful for the young lawyers involved to get an overview and wider understanding of significant sectors. Courses like CUoRL are a door to widening your professional understanding of a practice sector in a fraction of the time. Other practice areas should try it!

For more information contact Mike Blair: blair47dp@gmail.com.