Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025

Prospective

82 Rights of audience: solicitors S

(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (7), a solicitor has a right of audience in the Sexual Offences Court only if the solicitor meets the requirement set out in subsection (4).

(2) Where an indictment in the Sexual Offences Court includes one or more offence mentioned in subsection (3), then a solicitor has a right of audience in respect of that indictment only if, in addition to meeting the requirement set out in subsection (4), the solicitor has a right of audience in the High Court of Justiciary under section 25A of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980.

(3) The offences are—

(a) the offence of—

(i) murder,

(ii) attempted murder,

(iii) rape,

(iv) attempted rape,

(b) an offence under section 1(1) of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 where the alleged course of behaviour includes behaviour which would amount to an offence under section 1 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009,

(c) an offence in relation to which the minimum sentence which may be imposed (whether by virtue of enactment or otherwise) is a period of imprisonment of at least 5 years,

(d) an offence in relation to which the accused is being retried as a result of an application by the Lord Advocate under section 4(3)(b) of the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Act 2011.

(4) The requirement is that the solicitor has completed (whether before this section comes into force or otherwise) an approved course of training on trauma-informed practice in sexual offence cases.

(5) The Council of the Law Society of Scotland must keep, and make publicly available, a record of the solicitors who have a right of audience in the Sexual Offences Court in accordance with this section.

(6) In this section and section 83, an “approved course of training” means a training course which is approved by the Lord Justice General for the purpose of acquiring rights of audience in the Sexual Offences Court.

(7) Nothing in this section affects the right of a prosecutor to appear in the Sexual Offences Court by virtue of a commission from the Lord Advocate.

(8) The Scottish Ministers may, by regulations, modify the list in subsection (3) so as to—

(a) add an offence or description of an offence,

(b) remove an entry listed in it,

(c) amend an entry listed in it.

(9) Before making regulations under subsection (8), the Scottish Ministers must consult—

(a) the Lord Justice General,

(b) the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service,

(c) the Scottish Legal Aid Board,

(d) the Law Society of Scotland,

(e) the Faculty of Advocates,

(f) such persons providing victim support services as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate.

(10) In this section and in section 85, “victim support services” has the meaning given by section 3D(5) of the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 82 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 116(2)