Bruce Langlands

“It is part of the collegiate nature of Faculty that we all seek to help one another,” said Mr Langlands. “My main aim in this new role will be to build upon the existing foundations and take our programme even further so that Faculty becomes recognised internationally as a world leader in advocacy training. I am very grateful to Hugh Olsen, Gillian Ross and those before them for all of the work they have put in to get us to this position.

“When I called to the bar in 2019, I was immediately invited to become an advocacy instructor and I was delighted to be able to help others in the same way that all the instructors at Faculty had helped me during devilling. It’s simply not possible for Faculty to function and to have other aspiring advocates commence devilling without a pool of highly skilled advocacy instructors teaching the essential skills of the job.

“Having been an instructor for the past five years, I see it as a natural progression to go into my sixth year of instructing as, essentially, heading up the team of instructors that we have and driving Faculty’s training and education programme forward,” Mr Langlands added.

Mr Langlands takes over from the current director of training and education, Hugh Olson, who said: “I wish to congratulate Bruce on his appointment. I have enjoyed my three-year term – it has flown by! I would like to thank the members of Faculty who gave up their time to make the devils’ courses such a success.

“I am delighted that Gillian Ross is staying on as Deputy Director of Training and Education. She has been an invaluable source of wisdom and support, and I am sure that she and Bruce will continue to improve the Faculty’s training and education programme,” Mr Olson added.

“Having agreed to stay on in my role as Deputy Director of Training and Education, I am very much looking forward to working alongside Bruce,” said Ms Ross. “I am sure that he will be a great addition to the training team. Hugh has, over the last three years, made some valuable contributions and I wish him all the best for the future.”