page_title: Society of Advocates in Aberdeen
section_title: Advocates Hall
hierarchical_section_title: Society of Advocates in Aberdeen / Advocates Hall
caption_attribution_description: English: Advocates' Hall Concert Court This is a photo of listed building number 19977.
context_page_description: The Society of Advocates in Aberdeen is an independent non-regulatory professional body of solicitors in the northern Scottish city of Aberdeen and its surrounding area. It is a membership organisation providing a library, continuing professional development courses and social events for its members, as well as engaging in representative activities, similar in form to the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet in Edinburgh and the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow. The Society has its base in the Advocates Hall, located on Concert Court behind the Sheriff Court.
  Despite the name, its membership is drawn from the solicitors' profession, and not members of the Faculty of Advocates. Although membership of the Society was previously a requirement for the practice of law, this is no longer the case and the Society has no regulatory role, this being the province of the Law Society of Scotland. Its members are permitted to title themselves, Advocate in Aberdeen.
context_section_description: The Society had convened for some three hundred years in various venues in Aberdeen, including latterly its own room in the Sheriff Court, before, having amassed a significant literary collection and requiring dedicated space for social functions, a decision was made to erect independent accommodation. The Society's first permanent home was built in 1837 on the corner of Back Wynd and Union Street, adjacent to the churchyard of the Kirk of St Nicholas. The Society remained here until 1870 when a new Hall was built on Concert Close, a short lane directly behind the city's iconic Sheriff Court building on Union Street.
  The Hall, which is Category A listed, is a two-storey structure containing a large reception area, committee room and office, and a large Library with gallery and purpose-built timber bookcases. The architect of the Hall was James Matthews, who also designed the arched balustrade running the length of Union Terrace Gardens and from 1883 to 1886 was Lord Provost of Aberdeen.
  Room hire is available for very reasonable rates, full details on the Venue Hire page of the website.
caption: Advocates Hall
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