Solicitor, Scotland
Solicitors give legal advice and explain the law to their clients. They advise both individual and corporate clients on legal aspects of their personal and business affairs. They act on behalf of their clients, in court and throughout negotiations, as well as prepare and research documents, letters and other paperwork.
Solicitors and advocates in Scotland have very similar duties to their counterparts (solicitors and barristers) in England. However, Scotland has its own legal system, procedures and terminology. The Scottish legal profession also has its own entry and training arrangements.
Solicitors work in private law firms, central and local government, banks and other commercial organisations.
Solicitors deal with a wide range of work for a variety of clients.
The range of work available to solicitors in Scotland is vast. Those providing legal services and advice to crofters and craft shops in local communities in the Highlands belong to the same profession as solicitors in the big city law firms, who count leading Scottish financial institutions among their corporate clients. In these same cities there are solicitors in other firms, working mainly with clients keen to be acquitted when they appear in the District and Sheriff Courts.
Almost all solicitors in practice in Scotland carry out many similar activities, which typically involve:
Currently, all prospective trainee solicitors in Scotland must study for and gain a Scottish Diploma in Legal Practice. The course lasts 26 weeks and is available at the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Stirling, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Robert Gordon University.
To qualify for entry to the diploma, students must obtain the Bachelor of Scots Law (LLB) degree, which is offered at the above institutions plus the University of Abertay in Dundee, Glasgow Caledonian University, and Napier University in Edinburgh.
Although LLB courses normally last for four years for an honours degree (three for an ordinary degree), graduates with degrees in other subjects may take accelerated courses and gain an ordinary degree in two years (or an honours degree in three).
It is also possible, under the Law Society of Scotland rules, to qualify for entry to the Diploma in Legal Practice course by completing a three-year pre-diploma training contract with a Scottish solicitor and passing the Society's own professional examinations. However, very few solicitors offer such contracts.
After gaining the Diploma in Legal Practice, prospective solicitors need to complete a two-year post-diploma traineeship with a practising solicitor in Scotland. Lawyers already qualified in another UK or EU country may qualify to practise in Scotland too by studying for and passing the appropriate tests set by the Law Society of Scotland to confirm their competence in Scottish Law. Some graduates without a recognised Scottish LLB therefore choose to train and qualify first as lawyers outside Scotland, even if their long-term aim is to practise in Scotland.
There are some significant changes that will come into effect in 2011. The LLB will be replaced with a new foundation programme. This will be offered at the same level as the present degree programme but will feature more flexibility and will deliver subjects required for entry to the solicitors’ profession. This will make up the Professional Education and Training (PEAT) 1. The Scottish Diploma in Legal Practice will also be incorporated into PEAT 1, with increased choice and flexibility around electives. See the Law Society of Scotland for more details of the upcoming changes.
Candidates for employment as solicitors need to show evidence of the following:
In recent years, competition for traineeships has grown as the number of diploma students has increased whilst the number of traineeships has remained fairly static. Improve your chances by gaining a legal vacation placement, offered by many of the larger firms, or finding work shadowing or work experience opportunities with smaller firms.
Any work experience which develops your communication and interpersonal skills, customer focus and business awareness is valuable. Taking on a position of responsibility in a student or community organisation will develop useful communication, teamworking and organisation skills. Joining mooting societies and volunteering, particularly with any organisation offering an advice service to the general public, e.g. Citizens Advice Bureau, develops your skills and give you an advantage in the job market.
In applying for a traineeship you will find that many firms, especially small ones, do little or no advertising and simply recruit from speculative applications. Some will send vacancy notices directly to law schools. Locate firms through the database of law firms on the Law Society of Scotland website or in The Scottish Law Directory.
Larger firms, the Government Legal Service for Scotland (GLSS), the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service tend to advertise directly with law schools and/or careers services. Many also attend recruitment fairs in law schools at the start of the academic year and post details of their traineeships on their websites.
Traineeships in local authority law departments and in government service also tend to be advertised in the principal Scottish newspapers.
For more information, see work experience and internships and search courses and research.
Currently, the final stage for qualification as a solicitor in Scotland is the traineeship, a two year training contract with a practicing solicitor. Firms that take on trainees are required to review their progress and submit quarterly performance reviews (QPRs), reviews to the Law Society of Scotland. Trainees also attend a skills based two week course called the Professional Competence Course (PCC). This consists of 36 hours of core and 18 hours of elective modules.
From 2011, the traineeship will become Professional Education and Training Stage 2 (PEAT 2), which will follow on from PEAT 1. The QPRs will be more in depth and there will be increased guidance for the training organisation. Trainees will be required to go through 60 hours of accredited continuing professional development (CPD) during PEAT 2, which will replace the existing Professional Competence Course (PCC). The aim of these changes is to offer more flexibility and choice.
At the end of the two-year training period, and before gaining a full practising certificate from the Society, trainees must be approved by their employer as fit and proper persons to enter the profession.
To maintain your practising certificate as a qualified solicitor it is necessary to complete 20 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) each year. See the Law Society of Scotland for further details.
Both before and after qualifying employers expect and help you to develop expertise in areas of particular relevance to your work. You need to keep up to date with relevant developments in the law, legal affairs and business methods.
Many Scottish solicitors train and spend their whole careers in law firms, sometimes specialising in particular fields of law, and/or moving between firms to enhance their earning power or promotion prospects, or as their lifestyle preferences change. It is also possible to move in-house with appropriate experience.
After becoming partners, in firms of all sizes, solicitors become increasingly involved in running their firm. This includes directing and supervising the work of junior colleagues and other staff and attracting and retaining profitable business from existing and potential clients.
There are also opportunities for solicitors to qualify, work and progress their careers in Scotland as in-house lawyers. Currently 25% of Scotland solicitors work in-house for public and commercial organisations. Principal employers of in-house solicitors are the Scottish Executive, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) , local authorities, and the legal departments of banks, oil companies and other commercial organisations.
Experienced solicitors may undertake additional study and training to qualify as 'solicitor-advocates' (who are technically solicitors rather than advocates) with rights of audience in Scotland's highest civil and/or criminal courts; to date, about 120 have chosen to do so.
Solicitors who have qualified in Scotland but wish to practise elsewhere in the UK or in the EU may re-qualify in other jurisdictions by taking appropriate tests. Advice should be sought from the appropriate law society.
Two-thirds of solicitors work in law firms, though in-house work is a growth area. Currently one third of solicitors work in-house in central and local government, banks and other commercial organisations. Solicitors advise clients (individual and corporate) on legal aspects of their personal and business affairs and conduct legal business and negotiations on their behalf.
As of 2010, roughly 10,400 solicitors held current practising certificates from the Law Society of Scotland. They work across 1,200 law firms in sole practitioners, partner firms, local authorities, central government, public bodies and commerce.
Nearly all the law firms outside the main cities are small and if they recruit trainees at all, do so only on an occasional basis. At the other end of the scale are fewer than 20 city firms, who together typically provide more than a third of each year's traineeship vacancies. In between the two extremes are a significant number of small to medium-sized firms, who recruit trainees annually.
Outside private practice, solicitors are employed in Scotland in in-house law departments in oil companies, banks and other commercial organisations. In the public sector, they are employed in the prosecution of crime (in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) ) in courts; administration; the Government Legal Service for Scotland (GLSS) ; and in the legal services departments of local authorities.
Some opportunities for law graduates exist in the European Union. More information may be gained by contacting the international department of the Law Society of Scotland or consulting the 'international relations' section of the Society's website.
Recruitment agencies do not handle traineeship opportunities. Traineeships are mostly advertised via law school notice boards, university careers services and firms' websites. Some public sector vacancies appear in relevant newspapers. Smaller firms recruit from speculative applications.
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