The Scottish Sentencing Council is seeking views on draft sentencing guidelines for rape offences. A public consultation on the proposed guidelines launches today and people from all backgrounds, legal or otherwise, are being urged to offer their views to help ensure that the guidelines are fit for
Appointments
See all articlesKate Barton has been elected as the next global CEO of Dentons. She will join Dentons from EY, where she has had a distinguished 35-year career in a variety of executive leadership roles, most recently as global vice chair. She will succeed Elliott Portnoy.
Vini Cowden, an energy specialist lawyer focused on electricity transmission, carbon capture and storage, and offshore wind, has become the latest partner to join CMS’s Aberdeen office. She relocates to the Granite City from Glasgow where she has been based since joining CMS in 2001.
Lindsays' private client team in Dundee has welcomed Megan Hainey, who joins as a senior solicitor. Ms Hainey has experience in a variety of private client matters including drafting wills, power of attorney and estate administration.
Thorntons has announced 22 new promotions across its Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Perth, Inverness and St Andrews operations following a year of exceptional growth.
Professor Richard Susskind KC (Hon) has been appointed as the Commonwealth's special envoy for justice and artificial intelligence. The Commonwealth of Nations is an international association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire.
The new lord chancellor was sworn in at the Royal Courts of Justice in London yesterday. Shabana Mahmood MP took her oath on the Quran at Court 4 as Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill welcomed her, along with Attorney General Richard Hermer KC and Solicitor General Sarah Sackman MP to their roles.
Legal Aid
See all articlesLord Chancellor Alex Chalk is being taken to the High Court by lawyers who say legal aid fees are so low they cannot provide representation to thousands of people. The case revolves around access to legal aid for immigration and asylum lawyers and is being brought by Duncan Lewis solicitors.
The Law Society of Scotland is to withdraw from discussions on the creation of a review mechanism for legal aid fees, stating it had "lost confidence" in the Scottish government project following a lack of progress in two years. The Legal Aid Remuneration Project and Research Analysis Group were set
The number of criminal legal aid solicitors dropped from 1,459 in 2007 to 966, the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association (SSBA) has said as it warned the system was heading for collapse. The Scottish government's public spend on legal aid has declined by 45 per cent, allowing for inflation, over the p
The Scottish government’s 2024-25 budget continues its distorted and shortsighted approach to criminal justice, according to the Law Society of Scotland. The budget papers reveal an extra £22 million has been provided to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), while the f
The Scottish Legal Aid Board has confirmed that as at 1 June 2023 there were 975 lawyers on the Criminal Legal Aid Register, following a freedom of information request by the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association (SSBA). Of those 975, however, 238 received no payment for criminal legal aid in the year
Universities
See all articlesLaw experts from Scotland and the USA will discuss topics from gun violence and policing to surveillance and forensics with the next generation of legal minds this month as a popular transatlantic summer school returns to Aberdeen.
Pictured: Dr Mitchell Lennan and Dr Daria Shapovalova Dr Daria Shapovalova and Dr Mitchell Lennan have contributed chapters to the Research Handbook on the Law of the Paris Agreement.
Dr Eunice Pinn, a marine conservation expert, offers insight into her research on harbour porpoise conservation in an interview with Aberdeen University's School of Law. Her journey, which includes an LLM by research from the university highlights the complexities of balancing scientific and legal a
Copyright of Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans Leading forensic officers are delving into a famous ‘murder’ from more than 100 years ago, in the return of a true crime podcast from the University of Dundee.
Dr Amy Lawton, senior lecturer in tax law at Edinburgh Law School, has received a Fulbright Award to enable her to research at Villanova Law School. She has been selected from a strong applicant pool to explore the impact of legal representation in the tax court in both the US and the UK.
And Finally
See all articlesA postman is facing criminal charges after being caught with 13,000 undelivered letters in his garage. Police swooped on the home of the postal worker in the French town of Isle-d'abeau, near Lyon, following a tip-off from his disgruntled wife.
Germany has objected to Turkish efforts to impose rules across the EU on what can and can't be called a doner kebab. Turkey is trying to secure 'traditional speciality guaranteed' status for doner, strictly defining it as beef and lamb horizontally sliced into cutlets with a thickness of 3-5mm, or c
France's notoriously heavy-handed police have been ordered to be on their best behaviour as up to 1.5 million tourists descend on Paris for the Olympic Games. Some 3,600 officers have agreed to take foreign language lessons — mostly English — to offer better assistance to visitors, The T
Police officers are facing disciplinary action after two criminal suspects allegedly "turned into cats" and escaped. The two were among 11 suspects arrested for alleged possession of stolen goods in the small South African town of Meyerton.
A woman who fell out with her then-boyfriend after a Coldplay concert has been ordered by a tribunal to repay him for the cost of her ticket. The Civil Resolution Tribunal in British Columbia, Canada rejected arguments that the $450 CAD (around €300 or £250) ticket was a gift and held it