Faculty Of Advocates

The Faculty of Advocates has reiterated its opposition to the introduction of a "serious harm" test before defamation actions in Scotland are allowed to proceed. The Faculty's intervention comes as the lawyer who represented Kezia Dugdale in a recent high-profile defamation case brought by a pro-ind

Applications are now being invited for Faculty of Advocates scholarships which can help ease financial tensions during the training period for the Bar. Those hoping to begin devilling in 2020 are asked to submit applications by the end of this month, to be considered by the Faculty’s Scholarsh

Six European countries are represented among young lawyers who have arrived at the Faculty of Advocates for the 2019 Eurodevils programme.

A new Clerk of the Faculty of Advocates, Richard Pugh, has been elected in a seven-way contest.

Bookings are being taken for the Faculty of Advocates’ 12th World Intellectual Property Day Conference, which is expected once again to attract a full house. The conference is on Friday, April 26 – World IP Day – from 11:30am to 2pm in the Mackenzie Building, off High Street, Edinb

The voices of victims and their families should be heard at prisoners’ parole hearings, but only to a limited extent, the Faculty of Advocates has suggested. A “victim personal statement” could be part of a dossier for consideration by the Parole Board for Scotland, although the ro

A senior criminal practitioner will be a Faculty representative on a new panel looking at the way sexual offence cases are dealt with in the courts. Frances McMenamin QC has been confirmed as a member of the review group, chaired by Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk.

Aspiring advocates will have a chance to see life at the Scottish bar when the Faculty of Advocates holds an Open Day for S5 and S6 school pupils and university students. The day to note is Monday 6 May, but with demand for places likely to be high, another important date is Wednesday 24 April, the

Seven members of the Faculty of Advocates have helped students prepare for a major international mooting competition. The seven – Vice-Dean of Faculty Angela Grahame QC, Robert Howie QC, Kenneth Campbell QC, David Parratt QC, David Bartos, Roderick Campbell and Ross Anderson – acted as j

Two innovative judges from the US made a big impression with talks on "therapeutic justice" at a Faculty of Advocates seminar - and it seems Scotland made a big impression on them. Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren spoke of pioneering America’s mental health courts, while Judge Victoria Pratt discussed

A stimulating and entertaining talk by Lady Wolffe to mark International Women’s Day (IWD) ended with a hope that such days could soon be consigned to history. Lady Wolffe said it was 110 years since the first IWD in New York, and the day was now celebrated by millions of people – w

A case can be made for allowing all prisoners to vote in elections in Scotland, including any future referendum, the Faculty of Advocates has suggested. The Scottish government is proposing that only prisoners on short sentences should be given a vote. The current blanket ban has been held to be inc

Eighteen members of the Faculty of Advocates have gone through intensive training and emerged as Fellows of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. The group used a specially-designed course at Aberdeen University for the first steps on to the platform of international arbitration.Those now proudly

Advances in technology used in automated vehicles could make it impossible to identify the cause of accidents involving them, the Faculty of Advocates has suggested. Research aims to produce self-driving vehicles which “think” for themselves, but their reasoning processes will likely be

A new system of instructing second post-mortem examinations of homicide victims has been put forward by the Faculty of Advocates, in an attempt to ease the grief of bereaved families. Under the suggested scheme, a panel of forensic pathologists would be available to perform defence post-mortems with