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Barriers in accessing justice, including chronic challenges in the legal aid system, are among human rights issues identified by the Scottish Human Rights Commission in a new report presented to the Scottish Parliament. Scotland's human rights watchdog has published its State of the Nation 2024
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Irwin Mitchell Scotland has welcomed Izabela Wosiak, Rachel Brown and Emma McCutcheon to its personal injury team. Ms Wosiak, who joins the firm as senior associate solicitor, has 17 years' experience supporting foreign clients injured in Scotland or abroad.
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Gilson Gray has appointed Stephen Forsyth as a legal director in Dundee.
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Claire Loftus, Sir John Manzoni and Sir Ernest Ryder have been appointed as independent advisers to the Scottish Ministerial Code. Current advisers Lady Eilish Angiolini and James Hamilton have stepped down, having served for more than a decade in the role.
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Stephen Chan, a partner in Harper Macleod's corporate, commercial and regulatory team in Edinburgh, has been appointed as a reporter to the Commercial Court of the Court of Session. His role will be to assist the court by reporting on company petitions. Such petitions primarily cover complex s
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Katie McKenna has joined The Carvalho Consultancy, an agency dedicated to providing training, therapy and coaching to lawyers and legal professionals. Ms McKenna is a trauma-informed psychotherapist with deep roots in the Scottish legal profession. She had a varied career with Harper Macleod, Digby
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ESPC has announced the appointment of two new directors to the company’s board: Jill Andrew, partner at Connell and Connell, and Caitlin Keegan, residential property legal director at Gillespie Macandrew. Ms Andrew, who joined Connell & Connell in November 2024, brings 25 years of experien
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Scotland's legal aid crisis looks like it could be "unsolvable" as more than a third of legal aid lawyers are set to retire in the next decade. There are currently 911 solicitors registered for legal aid – down from 1,084 in 2020, a drop of 16 per cent.
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Tony Lenehan KC remains the top earner of legal aid fees, new figures from the Scottish Legal Aid Board show. In 2023-24, Mr Lenehan's fees were £450,000, an increase of £50,000 on the previous year.
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Criminal lawyers south of the border are to withdraw from legal aid work over a pay dispute with ministers. The Law Society is to advise its members to consider withdrawing from legal aid work or scaling it back until the UK government provides a "meaningful response" to lawyers' demands.
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Lord 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.
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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
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A new booklet celebrates the women of Strathclyde Law School as it celebrates its diamond jubilee this year. It states: "The idea for the booklet dates to 2022 when Claire McDiarmid and Rebecca Zahn decided to embark on a project to collate the memories that women academics have of their time in the
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A University of Dundee academic is calling for ‘less talk and more action’ from COP29. Dr Nandan Mukherjee, of the University’s UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, wants to see real action taking place this year through tangible initiatives such as climate resilient ho
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Dundee Law School has established a new partnership with The College of Legal Practice for students taking the English LLB. The college will offer the university’s law students an opportunity to take their courses to prepare for the Solicitors’ Qualifying Examination (SQE).
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Professor Lady Sue Black, Baroness of Strome, is making a return to the University of Dundee to deliver this year’s Margaret Harris Lecture on Friday 29 November. From 2003 to 2018, Professor Lady Black served as Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology at the University of Dundee, where
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As Pro Bono Week begins, shining the spotlight on the role of voluntary legal work is of utmost importance, writes Lauren Weetman. The pro bono effort of solicitors has a profound impact on both those seeking access to legal advice and the broader legal community alike. Efforts that shine particular
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A parody musical inspired by Australia's infamous Olympic breakdancer Raygun has been shut down following a threat of legal action. Lawyers for Rachael Gunn – who uses the breakdancing name Raygun – intervened to stop the debut performance of Raygun: The Musical just hours before it was
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Thousands of drug convictions are set to be overturned because the drugs in question were produced by the police department that made the arrests. The Broward County Sheriff's Office in Florida manufactured crack cocaine between 1988 and 1990 and sent its officers onto the streets to sell it –
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A nun has reportedly been arrested by Italian police on suspicion of colluding with the mafia. Sister Anna Donelli, a 57-year-old nun who volunteers in Milan's San Vittore prison, is suspected of carrying messages between the 'Ndrangheta mafia and its imprisoned members.
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A mother is suing toy giant Mattel after purchasing a Wicked doll with a misprinted web address that led to a pornographic website. Mattel apologised last month for the packaging mistake on the first run of fashion dolls based on Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo's characters in the new film adaptatio
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Hundreds of official Harry Potter replica swords have been recalled in Japan after they were discovered to be illegal weapons. Over 350 swords have been sold at the Warner Bros Studio Tour Tokyo, billed as "the largest indoor Harry Potter attraction in the world", since it opened in May 2023.
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