Civil Rights of Audience Course of training

The course assesses both written and oral elements and includes a ‘ takeaway’ assessment to be completed independently and a written assessment and takes place on a weekday.

Throughout the course of training, the topics covered include workshops on written pleadings and lectures on appearing in the Inner House, the Commercial Court, appeals to the Supreme Court, judicial reviews, appearing as a Solicitor Advocate and using witnesses.

The oral assessment asks candidates to present an oral argument in a Reclaiming Motion from paper. This will be presented to two real judges.

It is possible that both the written and oral assessment exercises will involve an area of law with which the candidate is unfamiliar in their own practice.

Candidates are required to attend all training days in order to pass the course.

When you have been advised that you have been admitted as a candidate to the course of training you will receive your Sitting-In Card and further information about the course.

Each candidate is required to undertake up to six days sitting in in the Court of Session (of which four days must be Inner House). Candidates with experience of these courts are entitled to seek exemption but will normally require undertaking Sitting-In for four court days including at least two days in the Inner House/Appeal Court.

Sitting-In means attendance at the Court in Edinburgh at the hearing of a case or cases in which the candidate or their firm or their employer does not act for any of the parties, save in exceptional circumstances, such as members of the Procurator Fiscal Service. Information regarding remote sitting in will be provided.

Arranging your Sitting-In

Sitting-In is arranged through the SSC Library in Parliament House who will contact candidates following successful admission to the course of training.

Sitting-In should be completed before the final oral assessment.

There will be a fee of £200 for the administration for Civil Sitting-In. We will invoice you for this payment when you are issued your Sitting-In card.

2025 training dates are confirmed as follows:

• Weekend 1: Friday, 24 and Saturday, 25 January 2025 (Atria One, Edinburgh)
• Weekend 2: Saturday, 1 and Sunday, 2 March 2025  (Atria One, Edinburgh); and 
• Weekend 3: Saturday, 5 and Sunday, 6 April 2025 (oral assessment, Parliament Square, Edinburgh).
  
  
• Written Assessments will take place on Monday, 3 February 2025 in an exam setting

Summons, Defence and Petition for Judicial Review exercises:

Candidates will be asked to produce a draft summons, defences and a petition for judicial from materials provided, in a remote open book examination setting.  The standard is of a reasonably competent pleader in the Court of Session.

This is held approximately one week after the first course weekend (usually on a Monday). Candidates will use a laptop and must ensure that Wi-Fi is disabled. The open book setting extends to documents saved on their laptop.

Grounds of Appeal exercise: 

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.  This is to be done by a given deadline but outwith the formal course environment, ie. in the office or in the candidate's own time. 

Please note the course is not designed to teach you to draft written pleadings.

It is quite possible that in the written assessment, the oral assessment, or both, the exercises will involve an area of law with which the candidate is unfamiliar in their own practice.

Candidates are asked to present 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. Precisely the same standard applies, ie. that of the reasonably competent pleader.

In neither written nor oral work is knowledge of any particular specialist area of substantive law examined. Candidates will not be faulted because they do not know the most recent case on restrictive covenants or remoteness of loss. A general grasp of legal concepts is, however, required because candidates are expected to have sufficient ability to be able to take the materials given and deal with them, even if they lie outwith that candidate's particular selected specialism. Indeed, assessors frequently look for candidates to demonstrate that they have clearly understood the issues when presenting their written or oral response.

It is quite possible that in the written assessment, the oral assessment, or both, the exercises will involve an area of law with which the candidate is unfamiliar in their own practice.

The exam diet is held each year at the Law Society's office in Edinburgh. Each diet will consist of two exams (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. The exam diet for 2025 will take place on Wednesday 28 May 2025. There is a £120 enrolment fee for each of these exams.

Candidates can request past papers prior to the exam.

Exam Rules

For the Professional Conduct exam, candidates are not allowed to take any materials in. This is a closed book exam.

Candidates are expected to have extensive knowledge of Rule C4.3 Order of Precedence, Instructions and Representation and Rule C4.4 Conduct of Solicitor Advocates. Copies of these Rules are NOT allowed to be used in the exam. Candidates are not expected to remember the numbers of the various Rules.

Candidates are also expected to have knowledge of general principles of professional ethics and the standards set out in Rule B1 Standards of Conduct. All of these rules can be accessed in the rules and guidance section.

The Practice and Procedure examination is an “open book” exam. This means that candidates are allowed to bring and use any published unannotated books and case reports printed from the Scottish Courts website.

The completed examination scripts will be passed to the relevant examiner and all candidates will be advised in writing of the result as soon as possible. In both examinations the pass mark will be 50%.

For queries about the training course please contact civilroa@lawscot.org.uk. 

For specific queries in relation to seeking extended rights of audience please contact David McDougall.