As an advocates’ clerk, you would organise the administration and workload for a group or ‘stable’ of advocates (the equivalent of barristers in England and Wales).
Your day-to-day tasks would depend on your level of experience, but might include:
- taking books and papers to and from court
- filing, photocopying and dealing with letters and phone calls
- dealing with invoices, payments and accounts
- organising the law library
- researching information to help advocates prepare for cases
- arranging meetings with solicitors and clients
- negotiating advocates’ fees
- recommending the most suitable advocate for a particular case
- managing each advocate’s diary and organising their court appearances
- recruiting and training junior clerks
- promoting and marketing the practice to attract new business.
Each stable of advocates is managed by one clerk and also employs a small number of deputy clerks.
What qualifications and experience will employers look for?
To become an advocates’ clerk you will need a minimum of Higher English, although many stables will prefer you to have three to five Highers including English. A growing number of advocates’ clerks have an SQA HNC/HND or degree in law.
You may have an advantage with experience in court administration, legal secretarial work, accounts or management.
What further training and development can I do?
You would start as a deputy clerk in an advocates’ stable.
You would be trained on the job under the supervision of an experienced clerk. Your employer may also arrange short training courses from time to time.
