More than two weeks after Lord Gill's scathing attack on the competence of solicitor-advocates in the High Court, the Law Society has now broken its silence and called for "a comprehensive review of rights of audience in the Scottish courts". However it has stopped short of defending continued rights of access for solicitors in the High Court.

Law Society President Richard Henderson merely said that there should be a review of how the system works "overall", to  to ensure that the system is working for all those who need it.

In a statement, the Society said it was asking Kenny MacAskill to set up a review, with an independent chair who is not a qualified lawyer, to look at all aspects of rights of audience in the supreme courts.

"It has urged for the review to be established by summer 2009 so that the results could be reported in spring 2010 to help inform the government in the light of the Lord Justice Clerk Lord Gill’s review of the civil courts. Such an independent report would afford government the opportunity to take rights to conduct litigation into account in any legislation needed to implement changes," the statement said.