Advocacy

The Advocacy Unit provides an in-house advocacy service providing representation for clients in all of Scotland’s Tribunals and Civil Courts, including the Sheriff Courts, Court of Session and the new Supreme Court for the UK. 

In complex litigations the traditional model was for a client to instruct both a firm of Solicitors and an independent Advocate from the Scottish Bar. We continue use this model in appropriate cases but also offer a one stop advocacy service where clients can instruct one of our Solicitor Advocates to represent them through the entirety of the court process. The benefits of this service to our clients are:
 

• The Solicitor Advocate will provide effective strategic management of the case from commencement to conclusion;
• The Solicitor Advocate will be accessible to the client throughout the entirety of the litigation and the client will be able to have direct contact with the Solicitor Advocate at any stage of the process;
• Urgent instructions can be dealt more swiftly and effectively;
• It will avoid duplication of work which can occur when a Solicitor and external Advocate are instructed; and
• Overall costs will be more effectively controlled and often reduced. 

The Advocacy Unit is headed by Chris Dickson who is a Partner and Solicitor Advocate in our Commercial Litigation Team. Chris has considerable experience in dealing with a wide range of legal disputes including contract, personal injury, defamation, professional negligence, health & safety and criminal cases. Chris regularly appears on behalf of clients in both the Sheriff Court and the Court of Session.