Today membership is voluntary, and the Society continues to provide services to local legal practitioners including a library, CPD training, and social events. It serves to foster rapport between local legal professionals and promote professional standards and legal expertise within the region.

The Society’s exact date of origin cannot be ascertained due to the destruction of original records by a fire in 1721. The earliest surviving document refers to admission of a member called Alexander Paip in 1549. Historically, membership of the Society was the only route to becoming a legal practitioner in Aberdeen following an order passed by Sheriff Principal Thomas Crombie in 1633. 

Those accepted into the Society would undertake an apprenticeship for at least four years before undergoing stringent examination to qualify. Prior to the Law Society of Scotland’s establishment in 1948, another key function was the consideration of bills before parliament – for which members of Parliament would be briefed and despatched to Westminster. Historically the Society also made great effort to advance the education of Scots law at the university of Aberdeen; it has been said the Faculty of Law here may have ceased to exist if not for its support. 

Its regulatory role was dispensed with by the Law Agents (Scotland) Act 1873, but it continued to examine applicants to its own body. After the LLB was implemented in Aberdeen at the beginning of the 20th century, the Society ceased conducting examinations and now simply requires to satisfy itself as to each applicant’s fitness.

The Society of Advocates began assisting indigent members, widows, children, and other relatives of members over four centuries ago. To this end large sums of money were required, and so the fees paid by members and apprentices were variously invested. Considerable sums were invested in property from the 18th century, resulting in significant improvement projects across Aberdeen including the construction of new roads, building of farm steadings, and planting of hundreds of trees. The changing economic climate resulted in divestment of these lands in favour of stocks and shares, with the last farm having been sold in 1954. 

These funds are now looked after by the Annuity Committee, and annuities are still paid to the widows of subscribing members. After centuries of meeting in rooms provided by the Town Council, the Society of Advocates opened its first purpose-built hall in 1837 on the corner of Union Street and Back Wynd. After a reconstruction of the Sheriff courts, today’s Advocates’ Hall was built immediately adjacent to them at Concert Court. Designed by James Matthews, the building’s ground floor and basement are now occupied by the sheriff courts – the original dining hall is now Jury Court 6. 

A stained-glass window overlooks the stairs and upper floor reception area. This was designed by Daniel Cottier and remains a beautiful example of early Aestheticism. The business of today’s Society of Advocates is conducted on the upper floor, which houses a custom-built library with gallery designed by local architect Arthur Clyne. The Society’s library was originally founded in 1787 by an initial investment of £60. Its catalogues demonstrate a remarkable collection of legal volumes, but also a devotion to cultivating the mind beyond knowledge of law. Many of the original volumes are now kept in the committee room, the oldest of which is Henry Savile’s Rerum Anglicarum scriptores post Bedam, published in 1596.

Practitioners who are members of the Society – mostly solicitors – may use the title ‘Advocate in Aberdeen’, without ever donning a wig or stepping foot in Scotland’s highest courts. According to one story, the title was granted by King James VI (and I) in gratitude for an unsecured loan (which was never repaid). Another version says the King granted use of the title after a grand banquet, in thanks. There is no evidence to support either of these stories and we know the title was in use long before he was even born. There is another, more convincing, possibility: prior to 1532, those who appeared before the Ecclesiastical Court of the Archdeacon of the Lothians were known as ‘advocates’. Outside of Edinburgh, Aberdeen was the only place in Scotland where the county town and seat of a Bishop coincided. This likely gave rise to similar naming conventions. Whatever the origins, advocates in Aberdeen have demonstrated their high levels of skill and professionalism over the course of hundreds of years, meaning holders of the title continue to be held in high regard.

Last year the Society celebrated its 250th year of formal incorporation. The Lord Provost and members of Aberdeen City Council hosted a civic reception to mark the occasion, where the Lord Lyon, King of Arms, presented the Society with Letters Patent for a full Achievement of Arms. The Lord Lyon said it was a “presentation that I make with a great deal of joy and celebration for your history, and with great warm good wishes for your continued influence within this city and within the practice of law.” In relation to the Letters Patent themselves, he said: “The supporters are the highest honour that I can grant any society or individual… you should be proud.”