If you are a mature student who is already a graduate but not with an honors degree and you aspire to the Bar, you may find yourself in some difficulty given these strict entry qualifications. Normally, for financial reasons, a graduate coming to law school to study law as a second degree will undertake an accelerated degree over a two-year period. You cannot gain an honors degree in that time. You could gain an ordinary degree with distinction but, as mentioned above, that is a very tall order. Unless you felt yourself capable of this you may have to enroll for an honors degree in law, but you would find yourself facing four years of funding through university, which would be an extremely expensive route. If you were determined to go to the Bar, your better option would be to complete a traineeship as a solicitor, qualify as a solicitor and then apply to go to the Bar.
After completion of a Bar traineeship, applicants for the Bar have to complete a period of pupilage for around nine months. During pupilage the prospective advocate is known as a "devil" and has to be apprenticed to a "devil master". A devil master can be junior or senior counsel and it is up to individual applicants to make arrangements to devil with a particular advocate. Devil masters are not permitted to charge fees for taking on and training applicants. Guidance about how to find and secure a devil master can be given by the Clerk to the Faculty of Advocates. The entrance regulations for advocates are detailed and complex, and if you are considering a career in advocacy you should read the current regulations which will be available from the Clerk to the Faculty of Advocates and ensure that you are able to comply with the regulations before you embark on what will be a very costly process.
Practice at the Bar will not suit every personality. It can easily be experienced as solitary, unsupported and with no guarantee of income. For those who do succeed however the rewards are high. While the income levels at the Scottish Bar are unlikely to reach those reported at the English Bar, it can nonetheless be extremely comfortable, and can of course lead to higher achievements such as appointment to the Bench or other public offices.
The type of training experience which you receive will vary hugely from firm to firm. It is not misleading to say that every firm will train in a different manner. The Law Society in Scotland is poised to introduce regulations regarding a training log, which will require to be kept by employers and employees showing the kinds of work and competencies undertaken throughout the training period. Given the difficult job market for trainee solicitors, rules regarding the kind of work which a trainee has to have completed before being permitted to qualify as a solicitor, have recently been relaxed. It is no longer necessary to have completed training in more than one area of law. It is therefore possible, in theory, for you to train for two years exclusively in criminal law or domestic conveyancing. This may not provide the best training unless you are absolutely certain that that is the area in which you wish to specialize for the rest of your career. It might be to your advantage to try to gain a training contract with a firm which offers a more varied training. Most of the large training firms, by which are meant those taking at least six trainees a year, are likely to offer training in at least three different areas, such as private client, litigation, corporate/ commercial and conveyancing. The advantage of such an all-round training is that you have the opportunity to discover which area of law best suits you. You are also better placed to apply for jobs subsequent to your traineeship as you will not be restricted to any particular area. The process of specialization within the legal profession has increased markedly in recent years. Solicitors appear to become specialist very early on, and scope for the generalist solicitor is reducing, certainly in the cities, though not so much in rural areas where solicitors are still expected to be able to handle a variety of different types of work.
If problems arise during your training contract it may be possible to assign the contract to another employer. Some-times, unfortunately, the law firm for whom you are working, becomes insolvent or for some other reason has to cease business. Similarly, you might experience difficulties with your employer and feel the need to make a move. You should seek the assistance of the Law Society in gaining an assignation. In principle it is not difficult. You simply have to complete your training contract for the period of time left to run with a different employer. Finding an alternative employer is of greater difficulty. It may be up to you to simply ask around and use such contacts and networks as you have to locate an alternative solicitor with whom you can complete your training. Separate from the need to assign your contract, if you have any other problems during your traineeship, particularly if they are problems associated with bullying or harassment, then you should raise these with the Law Society who will be able to offer confidential advice. There may also be other organizations that can assist such as the Scottish Young Lawyers Association or your local Law Society Council Representative.
The Law Society of Scotland produce a booklet entitled Guidelines for the Training of Solicitors which will give more specific details of what you can expect of your employer and what your employer can expect of you. The guidelines include a model training contract of the type that you should receive from your employing firm. You can obtain a copy of these guidelines on request from the Law Society of Scotland.
