MSPs then quizzed Lord Mackay of Clashfern and Adrian Ward of the Law Society of Scotland.
Before taking evidence from Ms Sturgeon, MSPs will quiz Alan McCreadie from Law Reform and Jim McLean from the Law Society of Scotland .
Having long monopolised that role, the Law Society of Scotland has applied for registration and is working, very slowly, through the process with the Scottish government.
The President of the Edinburgh Bar Association, the organisation which represents defence lawyers, said the action had the full backing of the Law Society of Scotland.
Lorna Jack, chief executive of the Law Society of Scotland, says it's had around 40 expressions of interest from those who may register under the ABS law.
The Law Society of Scotland has also raised concerns the move could turn solicitors into "unpaid debt collectors", saying the Scottish Legal Aid Board was the "obvious body" for collecting money.
The Law Society of Scotland has already raised concerns about part of the Bill which would mean solicitors having to collect the contributions themselves, arguing that this would turn them into "unpaid debt collectors".
The Law Society of Scotland has noted that while the imposition of a minimum price of alcohol is a devolved matter within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament, compatibility with EU Duty Directives must be taken into account.
The Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland, who welcomed the bill's broad principles, said they would be unable to properly represent an accused without their instructions during evidence-taking, and both warned that their members would most likely refuse to take on such a role.
The Faculty of Advocates and Law Society of Scotland warned that lawyers would struggle, or even refuse, to represent an accused without instruction where the trial proceeded in their absence before all evidence had been heard.
In recent years, few solicitors' firms have avoided redundancies or moving staff to short-time working, while others have closed or merged, and Law Society of Scotland chief executive Lorna Jack warned the hard times were continuing.
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