Civil Rights of Audience Course
The course is held at The Law Society of Scotland offices and involves a mixture of talks, workshops and tutorials from the Bench, the Bar and experienced Solicitor Advocates. Candidates will be assessed throughout via examinations, oral assessments and written work. It is held over three weekends spanning February, March and April.
Essentially, there are two elements assessed throughout the course, written and oral work.
Written Work
Candidates will be asked to produce a draft Summons, Defences and Minute of Amendment from materials provided, in an open book examination setting. The standard is of a reasonably competent pleader in the Court of Session.
In addition, candidates will be asked to produce a set of Grounds of Appeal for the Inner House in a Reclaiming Motion from a reported Outer House case.
Oral Work
Candidates are asked to present an oral argument in a Reclaiming Motion from papers, usually comprising a reported decision at first instance and three or four of the authorities cited before the Lord Ordinary which are thought to be potentially relevant. That is to be prepared as if a full Reclaiming Motion was required, albeit in practice candidates will be allowed around 40 minutes or so to present parts of that to two "real" judges.
The course includes filmed, mock oral assessments with feedback. These take place prior to the final oral assessments, and have proved very useful to candidates in the past.
The exam is held each year at the Law Society of Scotland office. Each diet will consist of two papers (1) Professional Conduct, which will last for two hours, usually from 10.00 a.m. until 12 noon and (2) Practice and Procedure which will last for two and a half hours from 1.30 p.m. until 4.00 p.m. Examination books are provided at the venue.
Course Standards
Before being able to start the course, applicants are required to satisfy the Law Society that they have adequate experience in Court of Session work or advocacy, or indeed both. This is not an entry level course, and is not intended to teach people about advocacy, evidence and pleading, from scratch. It is assumed that practioners have substantial experience before undertaking the course.
The course is held at The Law Society of Scotland offices and involves a mixture of talks, workshops and tutorials from the Bench, the Bar and experienced Solicitor Advocates. Candidates will be assessed throughout via examinations, oral assessments and written work. It is held over three weekends spanning February, March and April.
Essentially, there are two elements assessed throughout the course, written and oral work.
Written Work
Candidates will be asked to produce a draft Summons, Defences and Minute of Amendment from materials provided, in an open book examination setting. The standard is of a reasonably competent pleader in the Court of Session.
In addition, candidates will be asked to produce a set of Grounds of Appeal for the Inner House in a Reclaiming Motion from a reported Outer House case.
Oral Work
Candidates are asked to present an oral argument in a Reclaiming Motion from papers, usually comprising a reported decision at first instance and three or four of the authorities cited before the Lord Ordinary which are thought to be potentially relevant. That is to be prepared as if a full Reclaiming Motion was required, albeit in practice candidates will be allowed around 40 minutes or so to present parts of that to two "real" judges.
The course includes filmed, mock oral assessments with feedback. These take place prior to the final oral assessments, and have proved very useful to candidates in the past.
Examination
The exam is held each year at the Law Society of Scotland office. Each diet will consist of two papers (1) Professional Conduct, which will last for two hours, usually from 10.00 a.m. until 12 noon and (2) Practice and Procedure which will last for two and a half hours from 1.30 p.m. until 4.00 p.m. Examination books are provided at the venue.
Course Standards
Before being able to start the course, applicants are required to satisfy the Law Society that they have adequate experience in Court of Session work or advocacy, or indeed both. This is not an entry level course, and is not intended to teach people about advocacy, evidence and pleading, from scratch. It is assumed that practioners have substantial experience before undertaking the course.
