Cameras roll as five admitted to Faculty
Five new members were welcomed to the Faculty of Advocates today – in a ceremony caught, unusually and in addition, on film.
The two part calling ceremony – admission to the Faculty before the Dean and other office-bearers, followed by the swearing in as an officer of the court by a Senator in the Outer House – was recorded by a film crew to form part of a short documentary showing life and work at the modern Scottish bar, which it is hoped will interest and inform the public at large and help attract future generations of advocates.
Admitted today were:
David Welsh, who grew up in County Durham and graduated from Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities before training as a solicitor with Turcan Connell in Edinburgh, qualifying in 2012, and becoming senior solicitor in the firm’s tax and trusts department. He qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales in 2014.
Kirsty Tyre, from Edinburgh, who attended St Andrews and Edinburgh Universities, qualifying as a solicitor in 2013 with CMS Cameron McKenna and working in the firm’s professional indemnity dispute resolution team until she began her devilling.
Michael Dempsey, from Ayr, who graduated from Strathclyde University with a BA in 2011 and LLB in 2013, and trained and qualified as a solicitor with MacRoberts in Glasgow shortly before moving on to the bar.
Simon Crabb, from Ardgay, who attended Strathclyde University and the Complutense University of Madrid, and after working for the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service, spent four years until 2016, in conflict zones in Colombia with Peace Brigades International and Lawyers Without Borders Canada.
Paul Harvey, a graduate of Glasgow University and the European University Institute, Florence, and an English-qualified barrister who worked for nearly 10 years in the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, followed by a period in the litigation division of the Scottish Government Legal Directorate.
Gordon Jackson QC, Dean of Faculty, commented: “The Faculty is centuries old but we are constantly adapting to changing times while preserving our traditions and independence. We want the public to see behind the wig and gown, and thought a brief documentary would be a good way of doing this, and where better to start than new advocates being admitted?”