Dean hosts local deans at Faculty first

Deans of Scotland's local faculties of procurators (solicitors) were guests of the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates at a dinner in Edinburgh last Saturday, which is believed to be the first event of its kind.

Faculties from Caithness to Dumfriesshire were represented at the Deans' Dinner, held in the Reading Room of the Advocates Library.

The initiative came from James Wolffe QC, Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, who revealed however that the idea had been prompted by a notice he had read from the Dean of the Faculty of Procurators in Paisley.

"It was when I was appearing in his court, and read a notice in his Library, issued by him, that I conceived the idea that, as Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, I should host a dinner for Deans of Faculty from across Scotland," said Mr Wolffe.

"I was delighted to welcome so many Deans of so many Faculties, from Caithness to Dumfriesshire, from Dunbartonshire to Angus, from Scotland's great cities as well as from its rural sheriffdoms. This was, so far as I know, the first time that we had held an event such as this."

He added: "It seems to me to be a matter of more than incidental interest that lawyers, as members of a learned profession, join together – like academics – in faculties which are headed by deans.

"This says something, perhaps, about the nature of Scotland's rich legal culture. It is a culture which has been shaped – and which continues to be shaped and transmitted – by the institutions to which we belong. As leaders of those institutions, we are the guardians of that culture and of the values of our profession."