Event marks advocates' scholarship launch and SEMLA birthday

An event to celebrate the first anniversary of SEMLA (the Scottish Ethnic Minority Lawyers' Association) and to formally launch the Faculty of Advocates’ new scholarship scheme is being held on the evening of Wednesday 14 November 2018.

The Lord Hope of Craighead Scholarship is designed to make a career at the bar more accessible to all, by supporting intending advocates through their pupillage, or devilling. Funded by a voluntary levy on advocates' earnings, to which the vast majority of practising members of Faculty are contributing, it is believed to be a cause of a sharp upturn in the number of those interested in starting a pupillage in October 2019. The scholarship scheme aims to make the devilling (pupillage) process as widely accessible as possible.

The fund will also sponsor a place on the Lawscot Foundation, the Law Society of Scotland's charity to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds enter the legal profession.

SEMLA was launched last year with the support of the Law Society of Scotland and Faculty of Advocates, with the objective of increasing the representation of ethnic minority lawyers throughout the legal profession. This is achieved by collaborating with the wider legal profession and law firms to create opportunities for SEMLA’s members and supporting law students and junior lawyers from ethnic minority backgrounds by connecting them to positive role models within the legal profession. 

Keynote speaker at the launch and anniversayy event, in the Laigh Hall, Parliament House, Edinburgh, will be Humza Yousaf MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice, and other speakers include Naeema Sajid (partner at Aberdein Considine and a founding member of SEMLA) and Roddy Dunlop QC (treasurer of the Faculty of Advocates). The event will be chaired by SEMLA’s founder, Usman Tariq, advocate.

Click here for further details and to register. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.