Aberdeen hosts first solicitor admission ceremony outside Edinburgh

The first admission ceremony outside Edinburgh for newly qualified Scottish solicitors takes place in Aberdeen today.

Fifteen solicitors will be formally welcomed to the profession by the Law Society of Scotland in the library of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen, as the Society breaks with tradition in the holding of the event.

Admission ceremonies are normally held in Edinburgh three times a year, but the new departure takes place during the presidency of Graham Matthews, himself an Aberdeenshire man who has spent most of his working life in Inverurie.

Writing in the Scotsman today, Mr Matthews says the move sends a positive message to the 15 taking part:

"Firstly, that their member organisation is committed to representing an increasingly diverse profession and the interests of all our members, across a variety of roles, organisations the country and globe for that matter.

"And secondly, that they can be proud to be part of a modern and dynamic profession."

He adds that while the Society may have been guilty of being set in its ways at one itme, "it is no longer good enough to say, 'that's how we have always done it'".