The Court of Session - Death of the Edinburgh Agent?

The Court of Session- Death of the Edinburgh Agent?

IBefore 2020, pretty much any document required for the Court of Session had to be lodged in hard copy over the counter at the General Department.  Someone would go to Court every morning to lodge all day’s documents and cover any Procedural Hearings in person.  If you were a principal-agent located outwith Edinburgh, you really had no choice but to appoint Edinburgh Agents.  Now that most things can be lodged electronically and procedural hearings call by WebEx what’s the point of Edinburgh Agents?

It comes down to technology, experience and personal relationships.   Across the Civil Courts there are over 30 different types of rules or forms of procedure.  It is simply not possible for any agent to fully understand all of these rules and in particular how they are dealt with on a practical level.  In the Sheriff Court for example, different Sheriffs and different Sheriff Courts will have different ways of operating and very often, local knowledge of how those Courts work can be of considerable assistance.  The Litigation team at Gilson Gray, have that specific knowledge in relation to actions in the Court of Session and in particular the Commercial Court, Petitions and Judicial Reviews.  We deal with these types of cases regularly.  We understand the rules, we know the Clerks and we have the systems and processes in place to produce the necessary documents. We understand what steps may be required for any action and have dealt with most of the problems which can arise.

We still offer the traditional service of formally acting as Edinburgh agents in respect of a wide number of cases within the Court of Session however, as times have moved on, so have the services that we provide.  For example, rather than us entering process on behalf of an out-of-town agent, it’s now possible for us to simply sit in the background and provide assistance as and when required.  For example, we have the software to allow us to produce professional and fully functioning Joint Bundles.  There are companies who are not Solicitors who offer such services however, they don’t have the benefit of actually being in Court when these Bundles are used in practice.  They haven’t encountered any problems arising during the course of a Proof and they have never had the experience of seeing the way in which Counsel and the Judge actually use such Bundles during a Hearing.  We have that experience and apply it to everything we do.

It’s becoming increasingly common now, for agents not based in Edinburgh to undertake as much of the case as they wish whilst bringing us in for parts of the case where they need some help.  This means that their client ultimately benefits from our experience within the Court of Session whilst allowing the principal agent to deal with a greater share of the workload themselves but with a friendly helping hand to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

If you’re not experienced in Court of Session procedures or are simply looking for a new way to run such actions, Gilson Gray can be flexible and have the technology and experience to help.  If you’d like to find out more, please contact Iain Grant igrant@gilsongray.co.uk or Rosie Walker rwalker@gilsongray.co.uk