Advocate's clerk

You would organise the schedules and paperwork for advocates so they can focus on preparing cases and defending people in court.

You would look after a small number of advocates, in a group known as a ‘stable’.

At a junior level you would assist with the day-to-day tasks of managing the work, so you could:

• Prepare papers
• Take books and documents to and from court
• Deal with letters, emails and phone calls
• Handle accounts, invoices and petty cash
• Take payments
• Manage each advocate’s daily diary and keep their case information up to date

At a senior level you would deal with enquiries from solicitors about hiring an advocate for their client and decide whether one of your advocates could take on the case.

You would:

• Discuss cases and allocate work to the advocate best suited for a particular case
• Organise the schedules for the advocates and their cases
• Negotiate fees and collect payments
• Promote the ‘stable’ and bring in business

Sometimes you would refer work to another ‘stable’ if its advocates are better placed to deal with the case.

You would work for Faculty Services Limited, a company that provides these specialist clerking services to the Faculty of Advocates.

Confidentiality would be extremely important.