Appointment of King's Counsel in Scotland 2025

Applications

Twenty-eight applications were received: twenty-three from advocates and five from solicitor advocates. This compares with a total of thirty-two applications in 2024 and twenty-five in 2023.

Six of the advocate applicants and one of the solicitor advocates applied in 2024 and, based on information gleaned from the application forms, references and judges’ comments, two further applicants have submitted an application in previous rounds.

Seven female advocates applied. This is a decrease from last year in numerical and percentage terms: 7/23 (30%) compared to 10/25 (40%). The numbers were 5/22 (23%) in 2023 and 8/24 (33%) in 2022. The number of female advocate applicants this year is on a par with the number of female practising advocates (29%, 127/443), using Faculty of Advocate numbers for 2024.

No female solicitor advocates applied, which is a decrease from 2024 when there were four female applicants. There were no female solicitor advocate applicants in 2023.