Scottish Legal Jobs

Members have agreed a raft of reforms that will go some way to placating lawyers unhappy with the 500-year-old body's alleged reluctance to modernise.

The changes may well have dissuaded advocates from quitting Faculty Services Ltd (FSL), the organisation's business arm, to join the English-style "Oracle" chambers being established by John Campbell QC and John Carruthers.

Almost all advocates pay a proportion of their fees to subscribe to FSL, which provides a limited range of functions such as clerking to assisting advocates organise their work.

As The Herald revealed in September, Campbell, who was senior lawyer for the Holyrood inquiry, and Carruthers invited all 470 practising Scottish advocates to join their new Oracle Chambers in Edinburgh and resign from the FSL.

They are rebelling against what they consider to be archaic restrictions on the way advocates are allowed to practise. The pair has called on the faculty to allow members to embrace modern business practices, including greater freedom for advocates both to market themselves and to form businesses.

Campbell and Carruthers detect unease among a growing number of members that the institution has dismissed the landmark Clementi report, which heralds a shake-up of legal services south of the border.

Oracle held a recruitment event in Edinburgh in October which was attended by 40 advocates. However, Carruthers admitted last week that he and Campbell failed to sign up any recruits by the October 31 deadline which would have allowed FSL subscribers to join the chambers by next May's launch date.

"Following changes mooted at a faculty meeting (on October 27) it would seem that some members want to give FSL another year and see what happens," said Carruthers.

"We will be going ahead with the launch of Oracle notwithstanding and we will keep the door open. I remain far from convinced that FSL will carry through the reforms which have been promised, though it is in everyone's interests that they do."

Changes agreed at the meeting include allowing wider direct access by non-solicitors to an advocate's services. In a statement, the faculty said: "Advocates have traditionally been instructed by solicitors, but since the early 1990s have also been available for instruction by members of recognised professional bodies on behalf of their clients.

"At a recent meeting, advocates decided to extend the categories of those who may give instructions to them whilst maintaining their role as a referral profession."

Those able to give instructions now include solicitors from elsewhere in the UK, registered European lawyers, Scottish qualified conveyancing and executry practitioners, and persons qualified to practise law and actually practising in another jurisdiction. Other professionals are those recognised by faculty, parliamentary agents, and immigration practitioners.

Any body subject to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman or the Freedom of Information legislation is eligible, as is any public authority under European Union law and any person acting in a governmental, judicial or legislative capacity.

"Other persons" includes those on the Financial Services Authority register, recognised charities and voluntary organisations, plcs and community interest companies, trade unions and incorporated trade associations, and the Medical and Dental Defence Unions.

Advocates may not, however, accept instructions from bodies from whom they receive other remuneration, or to handle clients' money, or to do preparatory work which would normally be carried out by an instructing solicitor, apart from appropriate meetings with the client.

They must be satisfied of the competence of the client to give instructions and their understanding of the terms of engagement. If not satisfied, they should refuse to act except through a Scottish solicitor.

In its statement, the faculty said FSL will also provide an "increased range of options" to advocates.

"This will extend the flexibility which is available for those who practise as advocates to offer their services in ways which suit the different areas of practice which now exist, " it added.

Sources said these changes may comprise greater marketing freedoms for the loose affiliations of advocates known as "stables", freedom to pay differential rates to clerks, and allowing groups of advocates with similar specialisms to band together in new ways.

Members also voiced support for the establishment of an office presence in Glasgow -the first in the faculty's five-century existence.

This would include premises "for consultation and service accommodation which will be convenient for solicitors and other professionals and their clients in the west of Scotland", the faculty said.

Dean of faculty Roy Martin QC said: "The willingness of members of the Faculty of Advocates to extend the scope of access to their services, and the proposed setting up of a presence in Glasgow, both demonstrate that those who practise as advocates can develop their services in ways which respond to the needs of the entire community, both the professionals who instruct us and their clients whom we serve.

"The development of an increasing range of practice models is a part of this. The result is that the Faculty of Advocates and its members will play an increasingly significant role in the legal system of Scotland."