Disciplinary Rules Consultation 2026

Reviewing and updating our Disciplinary Rules (“Rules”): What you need to know

As the professional body for Advocates in Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates is seeking public input on its proposed updated Disciplinary Rules and associated sanctions.

This consultation is being driven by several key factors:

• Commitment to transparency and accountability: The Faculty is seeking to ensure that its disciplinary processes are open, clear, and publicly understood.
• Maintaining public confidence: Input from members of the public, legal professionals, and other stakeholders will help ensure the system remains fair and robust.
• Legislative changes: The current rules were last updated in 2019 and need to be reviewed to reflect recent developments, including the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 20

This process is part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen accountability, improve consistency in decision-making, and support an efficient and equitable disciplinary and complaints process. By updating our Disciplinary Rules, we aim to better serve the public interest and ensure our approach is relevant and proportionate in an ever-changing environment.

The responses received will play an important role in shaping how complaints about Advocates are handled in the future, helping to ensure that the system continues to uphold high standards of professional conduct.

In particular, the proposed streamlining of the Rules and timescales is intended to make the Rules more understandable and accessible for complainants. To support that the Faculty will publish a plain English guide to the Rules for complainants when the Rules go live. The Faculty has also committed to making free legal representation available to complainants to support them through the process – a step that we believe no other Regulator in the UK has taken and which we believe encapsulates the Faculty’s aim to make the process as straightforward as possible.

The Faculty is encouraging a wide range of participants, including members of the public, clients, legal professionals, members of the Faculty and other organisations with an interest in Scotland’s justice system, to take part in the consultation.

Introduction and Background

Since the establishment of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) in 2007, the Faculty has revised its Disciplinary Rules in 2008, 2015, and 2019. These Rules are subject to approval from the Lord President of the Court of Session under Section 121(2)(a) of the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010.

The current review of the 2019 Rules began in late 2021, focusing on updated timescales and interim suspension provisions. Over 2022 and 2023, the Rules and a new Publication Policy underwent several rounds of internal revision and consultation.

Draft rules were submitted to the Lord President’s Office in September 2023, and further changes were made following feedback from the Lord President and the SLCC, as well as anticipated reforms under the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill. A further review was then carried out in relation to the sanctions available under the Rules to ensure these remained fit for purpose and reflected modern practice. The Faculty is now seeking to consult on the proposed new Rules.

Why we are consulting

The objectives of this public consultation on the update to the Disciplinary Rules 2019 are as follows:

• To invite views from consumers, legal professionals, regulators, and advocacy groups on whether the proposed sanctions are proportionate, fair, and effective.
• Assess whether the Rules adequately reflect modern expectations around transparency, accountability, and redress.
• Test whether the disciplinary process balances the rights of consumers with those of members of the Faculty.
• Ensure the Rules are consistent with the evolving legal landscape, including anticipated changes under the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025.

What will we do with responses?

The Faculty is committed to ensuring that all consultation responses are carefully considered and meaningfully inform our decision-making. Every submission received within the defined consultation window will be reviewed and analysed to identify key themes, concerns, and suggestions. A summary of the findings will be published in a consultation report, which will outline how stakeholder feedback has influenced the outcome.

Members of the Faculty may respond to this consultation.

Please note that while all feedback will be considered, and will influence the new Rules, final decisions will need to be taken by the Faculty as to whether each change or comment proposed by consultees is reflected in the final draft rules which Faculty prepares. At the end of this process, the rules will be submitted to the Lord President for his final approval.

Individual submissions may be anonymised in any published summary, and sensitive personal data will not be disclosed. To respect confidentiality, responses from individuals will not be attributed unless explicit consent is given.

How to respond

Responses to this consultation on the Faculty of Advocates’ Disciplinary Rules Review must be received by 18 September 2026 at 5pm. Late submissions will not be considered as part of the final report but may still be read.

The following documentation is made available to support consultation responses:

• The current Disciplinary Rules
• Proposed new Disciplinary Rules
• Explanatory Note of material changes between the current Rules and the proposed new Rules, including sanctions

The online response form can be found here. Please provide reasons for your responses where possible.

 

Respondents may also choose to submit responses in a word document, which can be accessed here. Once completed, the word document should be emailed to disciplinary.consultation@advocates.org.uk

Postal responses should be sent to:

Deans Secretariat
Advocates Library
Parliament House
Edinburgh, EH1 1RF

If you require this documentation in an alternative format (large print, plain text, etc) this can be provided on request.

The Faculty of Advocates’ Privacy Policy in relation to data can be found on our website here

Contact information

If there are any queries about the process, please contact disciplinary.consultation@advocates.org.uk