Over the last three years, legal education and training in Scotland have undergone a major review. A number of changes are due to be implemented in the 2011-2012 academic year. These changes include replacing the current LLB with a Foundation Programme and renaming the Diploma in Legal Practice and the traineeship as Professional Education and Training Stage (PEAT) 1 and 2, respectively. For up-to-date information, visit www.lawscot.org.uk. However, at the time of going to press, the situation in Scotland was as follows...

Undergraduate study
It is possible to study for an LLB at 10 universities in Scotland. The ordinary degree takes three years, while the honours degree takes four. There are also accelerated degree options, which can be taken if you have a non-law first degree. Students on the Scottish law degree at the University of Dundee can take enough English law modules to earn a dual-qualified law degree, enabling them to progress to qualification in England and Wales or Scotland.

For those who do not wish to do an LLB, it is possible to do a three-year, pre-diploma training contract with a qualified Scottish solicitor, at the end of which you sit the Law Society of Scotland's professional exams. During the three years you must receive training in various prescribed areas.

Vocational study
All those who intend to practise as a solicitor or advocate (the equivalent of a barrister) must complete the Diploma in Legal Practice, a 26-week course offered at 10 Scottish universities. The course imparts knowledge and skills necessary for working life, with an emphasis on practical application and much of the teaching carried out by practising lawyers.

Training
Solicitors
To qualify as a solicitor, individuals must complete a two-year training contract. Trainees are usually paid by the training firm as per agreed rates set by the Law Society of Scotland. Trainees must complete a logbook and have regular quarterly reviews. After six months, they must attend a Professional Competence Course. It is possible to be admitted as a solicitor after one year of training (especially useful if the trainee is to appear in court on behalf of clients); but normally, at the end of the two years – and provided that all conditions have been met – the trainee is admitted as a fully qualified solicitor.

Advocates
The body that administers the Scottish Bar is the Faculty of Advocates. Having completed the diploma, a trainee advocate (or ‘intrant’) must undertake a 21-month period of paid training in a solicitors’ office (as for a trainee solicitor above, although slightly shorter), followed by a nine-month period ‘devilling’ as an unpaid pupil to an advocate. The trainee must then pass an exam set by the Faculty of Advocates covering written and oral advocacy. At this stage, he or she is admitted as an advocate.

Prospective students should note that a law degree from an English university will not form part of the qualification process in Scotland. Nor will a Scottish law degree be recognised by the Law Society of England and Wales as part of its qualification process. If you train in, say, Scotland, you’ll have to retrain to practise in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, and the same applies for movement in the opposite direction – unless you hold the special dual-qualified degree on offer from the University of Dundee.

For more details see www.lawscot.org.uk and www.advocates.org.uk.